The Chronicles of Giegue: Mixed Messages
by Naeroon
Summary: What ever happened to George, Maria, and Giegue before, during, and after the events of Mother 1? The story is now revealed.
1. Part One

A note: Just to tell ya, if you've read the three horrible chapters that are my Baerii story, I am here to inform you that this is it, but not yet. This story is what I think happened in Mother 1 that was never told – Giegue's story, through Mother 1, Mother 2, and my take on Mother 3. Please enjoy!  Oh yeah, won't make my paragraph breaks or whatever they're called show up, or indents, but I think if you read it right, you'll figure out where one scene starts, and where the other ends.

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Chapter One

A Legend Within

The Gaerin Battlecruiser drifted silently through the D'naeri cosmos, everything seeming to be in a blanket of security, a naïve sense of security.

The Battlecruiser was a fairly large ship; it was half a mile long and 60 metres wide. Cannons decorated the top and bottom of the ship, and in the cargo bay lay attack pods. The Battlecruiser wasn't built solely to attack, though; it was made to ship precious cargo, be it possessions or beings, across the universe. It was the Gaerins' pride and joy, and it had never tripped up on a voyage.

Right honourable Captain Fazon sat high in his chair, located in the middle of the large, spherical Control Room. There he watched over the many drones who worked endlessly (until their shift was over, that is) to keep the ship on its main course, to make sure neither of the two auxiliary power generators didn't overheat, make sure the weaponry was stocked and ready to go at any time, among other things.

On this specific trip, the Battlecruiser was carrying very special cargo: Her Royal Highness, Queen Gaiue, who was carrying the soon-to-be prince (or princess, but there was one already, so they were hoping for a prince), currently unnamed. She had just returned from the Cosmic House of Representatives, where there was no actual law enforcing or the like going on; the supreme judges held a baby shower, and had 'christened' the Queen's unborn baby, wishing a wonderful life for her remaining years, and good fortune to follow the baby wherever it went.

"Sir, we're approaching the Milky Way." Said Gargon, the Navigational Captain. "Traveling at 2 billion light years per hour, we should be reaching our home planet in four to five hours."

"Good work, Gargon. How's the Queen?"

"Oh, I'm sure she's fine," said Gargon, grinning, "considering she could bust our Asses if she was in the least bit uncomfortable."

Just then, a voice crackled over Captain's radio. "Sir… You'd better get down here. The Queen has a surprise…"

"What should we name him?"

"I don't know… But I think we should just wait until we find a suitable name for him…"

George was a well-built man; he was just over six feet tall and twenty-three years old. He was quite strong, with short brown hair and a full beard. He worked at the Lumber Yard, which actually paid a handsome amount for his work. He was a cheerful man, and loved his wife, Maria, and their unnamed child.

Maria was a beautiful lady, with long blonde hair. She was 5'7", and was only twenty-one years of age. She brought joy and happiness wherever she went with her wonderful smile, and was known all around own. She stayed home with the baby and took care of him. She loved to garden, and behind their house was a wonderful flowerbed full of many different kinds of flowers.

Together they lived in a small house, near a forest in rural America. They loved each other very much, and thought nothing, at all, could ruin the rest of their life. It was planned so perfectly, to just go through life normally, George going to the Lumber Mill, Maria looking after the baby until he grew up, and then, once they became old, they would let their child take on the family name.

Nothing, not one thing on Earth could ruin it. They were too happy, too caught up in the magic of the birth of a child.

Too blissfully ignorant of everything else that was going on everywhere, on Earth, in the Milky Way, in all the cosmos. Even the whole Universe.

They knew nothing of what was out there.

"Sir, where are you?"

"I'm coming, don't worry."

Captain entered one of the elevators, and pressed the button for the Cargo bay. The doors shut slowly, and he descended to the Cargo bay.

The doors creaked open, and the Captain walked rather quickly through the door, entering the Cargo bay. Genuine Faster, the Cargo Bay Upkeep Manager, met Captain at the door, following his pace, talking to him the whole way.

"Sir, it's about the Queen, She-"

"What? What happened to her? Is she ok?"

"No, don't worry sir, she hasn't been hurt. She- Well, I'll let you see for yourself. She's in the next room."

They turned the corner, and Captain stopped.

There, on a blanket, sat the Queen, a bit pale and sweaty, but okay. In her arms, she held a small, white object; it seemed to be moving.

It was the Queens child! It looked exactly like a small, gray, hairless cat, with black eyes, and small horns on the top of his head.

Captain was quite shocked, but still remembered to bow to their Queen.

"Queen, your majesty… This is an honour, for the child-"

"Now, now, Captain. Stand up. Although it wasn't entirely dumb to show respect to your Queen…"

She cradled the baby in her arms, and it smiled, a small, almost unnoticeable smile.

"… It's a runt."

"Oh, don't say that…" The Queen replied, bitterly. "He's just a bit… Smaller than others. Besides, there's been a few rulers who have been this way, and they led us through many tough times… And when my child's time has come to rule, he'll do a wonderful job! You just wait."

"Well, congratulations, my Queen! Uhm, have you chosen a name for him?"

"He must have a suitable name for a prince… A name that stands out, an original name… But it shouldn't be a confusing name… One that many will be able to remember easily… How about…"

The Queen paused for a second.

"… Gie… Giegue? It stands for 'That With Small Body But Large Mind'."

"Oh, Queen, the name is your decision, not mine! But, of course, I would wholeheartedly agree with your choice, not just so I won't feel your wrath," Captain said, chuckling nervously, "but because it actually stands out to me. I hope Giegue has a wonderful life whilst on the Holy Throne!"

Just then, Captain's wrist phone beeped, and a paper-thin, transparent window popped up, with Gargon's face on it.

"Captain, we have to get back to work. I know the baby is born, but we have quite a bit left do to before we get there…"

"Sure, ok."

"Oh, and tell the Queen, congratulations." Gargon grinned, and the window disappeared.

"Well, that's Gargon. I need to get back to work. See you, my Queen."

"Thank you, Captain. You have proven a terrific friend on this voyage."

Captain bowed on his knee, and tipped his hat.

"I have to get back up to the Control Room. We'll be reaching our home planet soon enough. If you or the child needs anything, just ask."

Captain exited the Cargo bay, and entered the elevator shaft. With a press of a button, he was on his way to the control room.

A couple minutes later, Gargon's face appeared on another window once again.

"Uhm, Captain? Are you close to the Control Room?"

"Yes, why?"

"Tell, it's not a big problem, but we think that a couple Space Pirate ships are tailing us. We could probably dispose of them, but we'd like you to get up here and help us get people to the manual weaponry if it somehow gets out of hand."

"Don't worry, I'll be there soon. You should be able to take of them."

"Right. We might lose communication with you for a minute, we're going to try to set up the 2.0 version of the phone socket in the manual weaponry, and we'll have to shut down all communications and restart it."

"Sure thing."

Captain sighed, and leaned against the wall of the elevator. He was their Captain; he should be making most decisions… But Gargon was a good man; he would know what to do.

Gargon popped up in a window.

"Ok, you should be able to get data of the ship in small windows anytime on your wrist phone now. The Space Pirates are getting a bit out of hand… We're going to use the cannons on the top of the ship, that'll wipe most of 'em out."

"Ok… You don't have to tell me every little thing, you can take care until I get there."

"I'm just updating you on everything going on up here, incase you're wondering…"

"Oh, but I'm getting most of the data from those data windows, remember?" Captain laughed.

At that moment, a large, red window appeared, with 'DANGER' written in large white letters. An alarm was going off through it, which confused Captain and Gargon.

"That's strange… It must be a bug. The Space Pirates are gone, so that problem is over. We're going to be delayed by about ten minutes, mainly because of them."

"Oh, that's fine. I'm at the Control Room now; I'll take over from here. Thanks, Gargon."

"Sure…" Gargon replied.

As Captain took his first step out of the elevator, the ship violently shook, creating Captain to fall backwards. It also snapped the wires used to hold and control the elevator, plummeting Captain to his doom at the entrance to the Cargo Bay.

"Ow!" Maria yelped, dropping the rose she was holding.

"You have to be careful with roses… Beautiful, but with a violent side…"

The sun was setting, creating a beautiful burst of orange and red that encased the sky, an awe-inspiring sight.

"Maria… Maybe we should start to go in?"

"Well, I have a bit more work to do with my flower bed… You can put our baby inside though, it might be a bit too chilly for him at this time of year!"

Maria put down her shovel. She wiped her brow, and marveled at the work she had accomplished in just one day.

"I'll take the baby inside, Maria. You can come in anytime, you look like you need some rest." George said, moving the baby's bed towards the direction of the house.

"Don't worry, I'll be in soon enough. I need to clean up a bit around here…"

"I've lost contact with Captain and the Queen!" Gargon sounded panicked, which did not help ease the fear that the rest of the worker's located in the Control Room were showing.

"Genuine, can you read me? Over!"

"Uh… Yeah, Genuine… Uh, Genuine here."

"Is the Queen alright?"

"Yeah she's fine. A bit shook up, but fine."

"And the child?"

"He's also fine. What happened, anyways?"

"I really don't know… But I'm guessing it's that group of Space Pirates we got rid of earlier. That wasn't their whole platoon… They seem to have at least three Cannon Panzers around us. It's obvious they have invisible shielding, so I doubt we could take them down… It's hard enough to take down one, without the shielding. How did they get enough funds to buy them?"

"I'm really just wondering how they found out about this… I mean, it was a really hush-hush thing… Y'know? Well, I bet- Oh, hell! God, that scared me… One of the elevators must've snapped… It just fell."

"What! Damn! Captain must be in there, I guess he didn't get out of the elevator before we were hit…."

Both went silent for a minute in prayer. One of the finest captain's in their galaxy, his life ended by filthy Space Pirates!

"Well," Gargon said, breaking the silence, "As I said, we can't take them out, so we'll have to escape… We can't go much faster than we already are. Hold on, we're still in danger…"

Gargon had put in some coordinates into a machine, and pulled with all his strength on a large lever, which increased the speed of the ship by 500 million light years.

"Workers! If you can hear this, get to a weaponry station, or get to the Cargo Bay to help protect the Queen and her child!"

The next few minutes, the Cruiser was in a flurry of movement. Since the elevators had no power going to them, those workers that were already on the bottom floor went straight to guarding the Queen and Giegue. All the others went to one of the many guns on the ship, and others entered the Control Room, helping out in any way with the control, stock, and overall status of the ship.

"Alright," Gargon said to himself, "Going at 2.5 billion light years, we should be able to outrun them in under an hour…"

The Cannon Panzers were shooting wildly, and it seemed they weren't even aiming – just blowing off shell after shell.

"Ok, we're going to have to get rid of some of our more heavy, least-useful cargo… Slowing down speed to 200 million light years for twenty seconds!" Gargon said through the announcer.

Gargon pulled the lever down, and pressed a large button, which created a large light in the bottom of the Cruiser, that seemed to go on forever. He leaned to his right, and flipped a few switches, which turned the light into a sort-of reverse vacuum. A shell from one of the Cannons hit the front of the ship, causing Gargon to slam against his seat and smash his body on the control panel, badly bruising him in the process. His left arm landed on a couple buttons, which, coincidentally, changed the polarity of the light from dropping certain objects to 'sucking' up anything that it touches. At that moment, the Cruise was approaching the third planet from the sun, Earth…

Maria had cut a dozen different flowers from her garden, and made a beautiful bouquet, which she was going to give to George. She stood up, and called him.

"George! Could you come here for a minute?" She had a wide smile on her face, and hid the bouquet behind her back.

George peeked his head out the door, and answered.

"Yes?"

"C'mere! I have something to give you!"

"Uh, sure…"

George stumbled outside, up to Maria, scratching his hand.

Maria pulled the bouquet from behind her back, handing it over to George.

George hesitantly took the flowers. He looked at them, and back to Maria.

"… Well, we should get inside. It's getting dark."

Maria just stood there, silent. She looked at her feet, and then back up at George.

"But… Don't you like them?"

"Oh, yeah! I love them, but, I don't want you to get chilly…"

Maria regained her smile, and had started towards their house, but had noticed George wasn't following.

"George, are you coming?"

As she turned, she saw a large, bright white light that seemed to be ripping up everything in its path, barreling crazily at her and George at an alarming rate! George also seemed to have spotted it, because he was dashing towards Maria, looking over his should at the almost blasphemous phenomenon. The light was catching up quickly; they knew they couldn't outrun it, but tried to get as far away as possible. It was gaining by the second!

As it got closer, they noticed that it was like a tornado; it was actually sucking them in, even though they were a got fifty feet from it.

The light finally caught up with them. Dead lord, the strength was immense! They were lifted straight off their feet and were rocketed to the source of the light. One second, the light was racing towards them, the next, the ground went silent, the light already was nearly out of town. But due to the constant bombardment of the Cannon Panzers, the light was rocking around, and finally it was shut down, only seconds after Maria and George reached the Cargo bay of the Cruiser.

"Uh, Gargon?" Genuine popped up in a screen in front of Gargon.

"Not now!"

"But, sir, we seem to have taken on some extra cargo… Living cargo."

"well, what is it? Cattle? Just drop it."

"No, sir, it's… _Humanoids_. From Earth. The Polarity Beam wasn't sent to drop luggage, it seemed to have been set to pick up luggage. There's also quite a bit of lumber."

"… Humanoids? Keep them for now, they may be useful. But just ignore them! We have to get back to work! We're entering our galaxy, we'll be reaching Gaerin soon. If we make it there, the Space Pirates'll never be able to get through our defenses!"

Gargon had shown some pretty skillful piloting skills, but it was quite obvious they would either get home in one big wreck, or blow up here in outer space. He pushed them up to four billion light years, amazingly swerving in and out of each shell being shot at them. They would reach Gaerin in a mere ten minutes, safe and sound, the Queen would continue to rule until Giegue took over, and the humanoids would be taken care of by the Queen's words.

…Right?

Chapter Two

Reaching Gaerin

Gargon was sweating bullets from stress and fear. They took many hits, and they were using emergency power. With the Queen onboard, they couldn't lose! She brought good luck wherever she went!

As most of the worker's faith was fading, out, way out in the distance, one of them spotted a maroon-coloured ball, which was slowly getting bigger.

"Look!" He exclaimed, jumping out of his seat. "It's Gaerin!"

Gargon's eyes darted from the Control Panel to space only for a second, to see his home planet. Just the sight made him feel warm and good inside. A smile spread across his pale face, and his eyes drooped. Slowly, his head came to rest on the edge of the Control Panel, and his eyes closed fully. He snored softly.

Genuine was down in the Cargo bay, leaning against a wall, trying his best to keep cool and calm. The Queen was also trying to keep cool, but it was quite obvious she was frightened. Giegue, lost in the blissful ignorance a newborn child, didn't notice much except the rocking now and then, but they actually lulled him to sleep. He laid in his mothers lap, curled up in a ball.

Maria and George, who just went through a huge ordeal – losing their home, their life, losing their one and only child – were speechless. One second, they were on Earth, loving their lives. Now, in some place completely unknown to them, being rocked violently back and forth, George barely able to keep his supper down. And Maria was pale as a ghost. Genuine was just eyeing them.

The Space Pirates took a few more good hits while Gargon was fast asleep. Three of them shot at once, aiming for the right power generator. The first shell missed, fortunately, but the second one smashed into the side of it, and the third hit it straight on, created a smoldering, crumpled mess.

Inside the ship, the failing of the power generator caused most of the cruiser to shut down, and was nearly shut down, completely. Steering was impossible, and mostly anything else was, too. They were doomed to just sit there, waiting for them to crash into something.

Gaerin was on their straight path, making it near impossible for them to miss it.

The ship was slowing down, making the crash landing to Gaerin even longer and strenuous on everyone.

Slowly, very slowly, they crept towards the gravitational pull of the planet, making landing an impossible uncertainty. It was closing in, getting to the atmosphere… Rocketing through the sky… The ground below was the middle of the capital and the land where the Queen lived, Margonio….

The ground was coming up incredibly fast…

Closing in…

Closing in….

They were mere feet above it…

The sheer force of the landing made many slam unbelievably hard into a wall, or something else, splattering them. Many instruments were blown up, and a large whole opened up in the top of the cruiser, lots of debris flying through it.

Gargon's body was scraped across the Control Panel and thrown through the window, stuck eight feet into the ground.

Genuine had his body thrown around the room, his limbs smashing this way and that, but they luckily were all intact at the end.

The Queen was shielding Giegue seconds before the crash, and the sheer power made her collapse in on herself, Giegue amazingly staying alive from the awesome doings of his mother.

Maria and George were sent flying into a wall, both knocked unconscious.

And of the people living in Margonio?

Most came to a terrible end. The impact flew many of them many metres in the air, only to come crashing down kilometres away. Unbelievably, many of the townsfolk survived.

But, when would those who survived realized what happened?

And, what about Giegue, the new King of Gaerin?

Maria and George? What about them?

All would go back to normal, everyone would pretend this wouldn't happen, right?

Wrong. Utterly wrong.

When the largest spaceship ever created is brought down by Cannon Panzers piloted by Space Pirates, and the best pilot in the D'Naeri cosmos, the smartest mind on Gaerin and also the best to take over said pilot's job if anything bad were to ever happen to it, one of the best Queens that Gaerin, let alone the whole universe has ever seen is completely obliterated, yet the soon-to-be-but-now-is King Giegue survives without a scratch, the two humanoids that were taken aboard by an accident, and the Queen's top-notch guard all survive a horrific crash of this size, nothing could go back to normal. Everything seemed to be set up; the chances of this happening were one to two hundred billion.

This couldn't have been a coincidence.

It had to be fate.

What do you think? Please give me some feedback (mostly positive, heh). Chapter three and four should be up by the end of March at the VERY latest. Oh, and yeah, don't read any of my other EB fictions. They embarrass me. 


	2. Part One Point Five

Chapter Two Point Five

Aftermath

The smoldering wreckage that is the Gaerin Battlecruiser just lay there, stuck deep in the soil of the Gaerin planet. Nothing happened, no movement, no sound…. Everything was just _there_. Time had stopped on this lonely spot in the D'Naeri cosmos; everything had stopped for many, many hours.

It wasn't until the next morning that George finally woke up from his unconscious state.

"Oahhh…" He groaned softly. His head pounded like a jackhammer, and he was shook up, badly.

Slowly, he stumbled to his feet, confused.

"Where… Where am I?"

George looked around the dimly lit room. Everything was torn apart; it was like a large cannon had blown up inside this place. This mysterious, far-off, almost unimaginable place…

What had really happened before he was knocked unconscious? Everything was a blur… He looked around the room once more. There were rotting corpses of unknown beings.. Blood and innards everywhere…

Nothing made sense! It was some sort of post-apocalyptic mess! George fell back, and vomited into his lap. He held his head, and looked to his right. There, Maria lay, slightly bruised, but otherwise looking ok. George shook her.

"Maria… Maria! Wake up…"

He was so alone…

Maria opened her eyes many hours after, a large sun high in the sky, shining through the large hole in the top. She yawned and stretched, and turned to her left.

"Oh… Hello, George… Good morning." She said, grinning from ear to ear. It seems that she didn't remember a thing, or at the least she thought it was a dream.

"George.. This isn't our house… Where are we?"

George sighed. Obviously, she didn't remember.

"We're… Somewhere! Last night… Don't you remember? There was that large light, it sucked us up to god knows where, we were shook around, and then I'm guessing we were knocked unconscious, because I don't remember a large hole in the top of this room!"

"George… Calm down, ok? We're fine… See? No danger, anywhere… Wait, what's that smell?" She stood up, and sniffed the air. The putrid smell was horrid!

Genuine slowly limped into their area of vision, taking in large breaths, a short trail of blue blood following him. He coughed a couple times, and looked up.

"That smell is coming from the rotting corpse of my wondrous Queen, Queen Gaiue. Hello, humanoids, this is you're new home, the planet of us Giggitites, the planet Gaerin. You may either be executed, or slaves."

Maria slowly remembered the actions of last night… It all came back to her. She couldn't believe it, though, and just thought she was in another dream.

A small, gray ball bounced out of the corner of the room, and stopped, it's tail moving back and forth, and, spotting Maria in all her wonderful, beautiful glory and mistaking her as it's mother, it bounded up to her, and walked in between her legs, purring softly.

Maria lifted Giegue up, and he licked her nose.

George leaned against the wall, looking at the cat-like thing Maria held in her hands.

"What is that thing?"

"That 'thing' is our King. Put him down, now… We just went through a huge ordeal, and we still have a lot to go through. Humanoids, follow me."

Maria put Giegue on the floor and walked over to Genuine.

"Are… You ok? You look pretty bashed up."

"Yes, yes, I'm fine! We need to get outside of this ship; we need to get some help from others. There's a lot of work to do."

He walked to the other end of the room, indicating with his hand to follow.

"Well.. George, c'mon, we have to go."

Maria made her way over to Genuine, and also started to climb. George hesitated.

"George! Come on!"

He sighed, and followed. This alien creature thing isn't the biggest threat he's ever seen.

Giegue bounded toward Maria, and stayed with her all the way up. George was only a few feet behind them.

When they finally reached the top, they were greeted by hundreds of soldiers, each holding a large and rather painful looking weapon. They wore black helmets that covered their face, and the eye sockets had large, blue cylinders that could extend and retract.

"Where is the Queen?"

They were silent for a moment, and he said it again, this time louder, and more menacing.

"I said, where is the Queen?"

Genuine stepped forward.

"Genuine Faster, personal protector of the Holy Throne and all those who inhabit it. We just went through a-"

"Where is the Queen? Answer me, now!"

Genuine hesitated.

"She… She died. At least a dozen Cannon Panzers, piloted by Space Pirates, attacked us on our way through the Milky Way. They destroyed most of our ship, and left, leaving us to crash here. Captain Fazon and Navigation Master Gargon are nowhere to be found."

"And what of these… _Humanoids?_" He spat the last word, obviously disgusted by such a primitive race.

"They were accidentally taken aboard as excess cargo, when our Polarity Beam was struck and was sent to take anything it touched. These two were among the items."

Giegue flinched when the Commander pointed his weapon at him.

"And this child? Where did he come from?"

"Well, Commander, if you somehow didn't know, the Queen was pregnant while on board the ship. She also gave birth to this child you see before you. His name is Giegue, and he is the new ruler of Gaerin."

The Commander put his weapon in its holster, and reached for Giegue. He growled as the hand got closer, and as it grabbed him, he bit and clawed at it, causing the Commander to drop him.

"Ow!" He exclaimed, rubbing his hand.

Giegue jumped back to Maria, pushing itself up against her.

Genuine then spoke once more.

"Giegue seems to have taken a liking to this female humanoid. He won't let anyone else touch him…"

He went silent, thinking hard.

"Although this may seem unorthodox, but seeing as how the Queen is dead, and Giegue has no one to look over him, I propose this female humanoid look over him until she is of no use to him."

George, Maria, and the Commander were all taken aback at this offer. Maria, who hadn't even been on this planet for a week, let alone awake long enough to even get the gist of what was going on, looked down at the sleeping bundle of gray… Something that lay in her arms. She looked at George, then to Genuine.

"I being the protector of the Holy Throne," Genuine started, saying it loud enough so everyone, including the soldiers could hear, "Accept this proposition. This female Maria will become the artificial mother of Giegue, the new King of Gaerin."

The Commander stood there, silent. After a few moments, he turned around, and issued an order to the soldiers to stand down. He turned back to face Genuine, Maria, George, and Giegue, and extended his arm to shake all of their hands, but was smart enough not to put his hand _too_ close to Giegue. He then followed the rest of the soldiers back to HQ.

Genuine then turned to George and Maria.

"Well.. I know you two have been through a lot in the past while… Come, follow me. I'll take you to a safe haven, here in this town."

Maria and George both hesitated, but when Genuine was far ahead of them, they just shrugged and ran to catch up.

After a long walk through the sun-parched city, the four arrived at a large cavern, which was pitch black.

"Alright… Here we are. This is our underground palace. This is the sacred chamber of the Holy Throne. It's a rather large place… It's not just some sort of chamber, or nothing. Heh."

Genuine entered the cave first, and it immediately lit up with rows of dim blue lights, which made everything inside visible.

It was like a small, artificial town of sorts. At the end of a long path of grass lay huge doors, with an insignia of two flowers on each door. Not much else was here, except for patches of land that seemed to stretch on forever in this small cave.

"Come. We have yet to get there… This part really is just for show. Just beyond those doors, it is."

They reached the huge doors, and Genuine walked to the middle of them, lightly pressing on certain points on the doors. The spots that he pressed lit up in bright purple, and each time he pressed one, a note played. Once he was finished, he stepped back, the full song played from the doors, and they slowly creaked open, a very bright light emanated from inside. When the doors fully opened, they saw a wonderful sight.

The Castle Gardens were beautiful; on each side of them, there were rows and rows of beautiful and exotic flowers, and a wonderful smell filled the courtyard, creating a brief moment of ecstasy for the two humans. Shrubs shaped like strange animals acted like barriers to the flowers, and to create a path leading up a rather large set of marble steps, up into what seemed to be a castle in this cave.

Maria just gazed at them all, and let the smell encase her. Giegue's nudge to her chest brought her back to her senses.

"Come, come, just up there!" Genuine said, finally.

They walked across the path, and my the marble staircase, where they were confronted with cold darkness. Maria and George couldn't see, but they heard Genuine scuffling across the floor. Large, bright, white lights shone from the ceiling, killing the darkness, and the cold.

Before them was a marble hallway, with many, many doors. Some were made of wood, others were made of glass, and some were made of some unknown substance that seemed to eat any light that dare touch it.

"Alright, now. Welcome to the Holy Throne, the place that has kept this tiny planet in a state of readiness against attack, and also supplies anyone and everyone with nearly anything they need."

Genuine paused, and looked at Giegue, who was fast asleep in Maria's arms.

"Giegue… Yes, of course… Uh, follow me! I'll take you two to his room."

George, who had said nothing since they left the ship, decided now was the best time to say something, just to know he was still 'here'.

"So, what is this place really about?" He said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Is this whole place underground? I didn't see any life up there, except for that welcome wagon we received."

"Well, yes, actually. If you didn't notice, it'd be quite hard to live on land, what with there being the incredibly hot sun, and very little resources. We took shelter underground, where it's nice, and cool, and there's actually quite a lot of things down here that you would never expect to find on Earth. We live underground, here, in the caves. We don't have night-vision, obviously, so we have these special lights that show us everything down here. And yes, because we live down here, we're very susceptible to sunlight, and we are very pale. But we don't care. We enjoy our artificial light. Well, here we are… Giegue's room."

They stopped at a lonely door near the end of the hallway, made up of bimetallic materials. Genuine pressed three buttons on the door, which played a short fanfare before opening.

Inside, it was pretty dark and bland, with a small crib in the corner, and books on a bookshelf in the other corner. Near the door, there was a small table, with four chairs, and a complete set of dinnerware was set out, as if waiting for Giegue and 'his guests'.

"Well, the little tyke is fast asleep… Maria, why don't you put him in his crib, and we'll let him sleep?"

"Huh? Oh, sure."

She walked to the crib, and placed him in his crib, make sure not to wake him up. Before lifting back up, she hesitated, and kissed Giegue on his head.

"Well," Genuine said reluctantly, "let's get going. I have a lot to two you two."

"Say, how did you heal yourself?" George asked. "When we left the ship, you were beaten up… But now you're fine. Did we miss something during those few seconds that you were lost to us in the dark?"

"Actually, no." Genuine was closing the door softly. "What really happened is…"

………..

……..

……

….

So, what? Was that it? Were George and Maria to go on living normally, with Maria being the child king's artificial mother until it grew up? George hasn't seemed to have taken a liking to this place. Maria seems like nothing has happened. What about their child? Did they just forget about that poor kid, left to die on Earth? Why don't they seem to care? Do they have any idea what they're getting themselves into? They aren't starting life anew; they're just living like they are. What will happen to George and Maria? As Genuine said, they would probably be used as slaves, but the Gaerin race don't seem evil, at all. And, Maria is taking care of Giegue! That has got to score her some points.

But still, the question remains: Are George and Maria just going to forget _everything_ and pretend it didn't happen?

Chapter Three

Melodies, Magicant, Memories

Coming soon

-

Hey, I know that I probably shouldn't write 'coming soon', but hey, this right here took me a whole day to write… Pitiful, ne? Well, I wasn't writing 24/7… Really, only for about two hours or so… But, I just want to post this, so I can make chapters three and four separate, because, frankly, they actually show character development and overall improved description. See you until then!


	3. Part Two

Chapter 3

Melodies, Magicant, Memories

Much has happened over the past ten years.

Giegue, the small cat-like alien, had matured greatly over the years. He had sprung straight up, walking on his feet instead of both hands and feet, and now the small bumps on his head had enlarged into large horns. He had learned to love the spoken word, and always anticipated the times when he went to bed in his castle-like marble room and Maria would tell him amazing and fascinating stories of a land high in the sky, named Magicant.

At the age of three, the future king was diagnosed with a deadly disease, called Nycoloptyte. This disease is usually found in the youth of Gaerin, and even then, it was incredibly rare. Once diagnosed with Nycoloptyte, the Gaerin would slowly waste away, their innards decomposing and even shutting down. A terrible disease, really.

So, after this threat to their savior was known to the public, the brightest minds in all of Gaerin put their heads together to create a liquid-like medicine that would (very slowly) cure any victim of Nycoloptyte. This medicine, which was the byproduct of a select group of poisonous plants mixed together, was to be lathered on the subject in question, twenty-four seven. Obviously, no one in their right mind would even want to apply for the position of lubing up Giegue every waking moment, so there would have to be some way to do this all the time.

Therefore, a glass capsule was created. This clear capsule would be where Giegue would spend as much time as was needed to be cured of his disease. On both sides of the capsule were two large red spheres. These spheres were anti-gravity balls, which lifted the capsule up and allowed the 'wearer' to move any which way. To move left, you lean left. To move right, you lean right. To go faster or slower, lean more or less, etc.

There were red tubes that connected to these spheres as well, and small tubes went inside the capsule and were connected to a breathing mask, so anyone would be able to breathe inside, if it wasn't obvious enough. Giegue was put inside shortly after completion. No one knows when he'll be able to leave the capsule.

"Maria?" Giegue called.

He heard a scuttling of feet outside the room, and Maria slowly opened the door.

Giegue's room was just that: a room. A big, metallic, hollow room. On the wall opposite the door was a large rectangular box, with a block on the top and the bottom, fitted with an impression that Giegue's capsule seemed capable of securely locking itself into. Long wires came out of the side of the box, entangling themselves around the capsule. These wires cleansed the liquid inside, and filled it with certain toxins that would lull Giegue to sleep. This was the only point of his room that stood out. It was his bed.

"Yes, Giegue?"

"Maria, could you… Tell me a bedtime story?"

Maria smiled, and walked up to his bed, pulled up a seat and sat down.

"Sure, sweetie. What story would you like me to tell you?"

"Oh, you know which one! Magicant!"

"That's your favorite, isn't it?" She chuckled. "Ok, sure."

Maria pulled her seat up a bit closer, cleared her throat, and began the story.

"Once upon a time, there was a small village. This village was located above the clouds, in the heavens. This village was given the name Magicant. This was a prosperous town, with a kind, nurturing community.

"To the north of this village stood a grand castle, made up of many gems that shone like the sun. It had four large spiraling pillars that touched the sky. Guards littered the grounds, making sure no unexpected visitors dropped by. Not like that happens on a regular basis, however.

"The owner of this grand castle was named Queen Mary. She was a beautiful woman, with long, bright blonde hair that went down to her waist. She had pale, velvet soft skin, and wore a marvelous fuchsia dress, with a jewel-encrusted crown placed atop her fragile head.

"Queen Mary had everything – money, power, loyal subjects – but lately, Queen Mary had started to feel depressed and unloved. Her jesters tried their hardest to cheer her up. She thanked them dearly for their efforts, but she still felt down. You see, Queen Mary was missing something, something important to her – a child to love and nurture.

"After a long, hard day of ruling over the merry village of Magicant, Queen Mary couldn't wait to get to sleep in her large, queen-sized plush bed. Many wonderful dreams awaited her. Or did she?

"She was restless. She was having nightmares about her kingdom being taken away from her by evil demons from another planet. She awoke with a start, beads of sweat trickling down her face. Queen Mary was feeling stressed out. She decided to try to cool off by getting a glass of water.

"She nearly fell over an object that lay just outside her room. _What clutter would be placed outside her room?_ She thought. She turned around to face her door, and what did she find?

"She found a wooden basket, with cloths draped over the top. She slowly got to her feet and picked up the basket. Upon further inspection, she noticed that there was a note pinned on the front of it! It read:

_Dear Queen Mary,_

_I know we haven't talked recently._

_I am very sorry for that, my Queen._

_I am sorry I let you down_

_What with me leaving and all,_

_Nevertheless, I assure you, I will return soon._

_I will return a man._

_In this basket is a present to tide you over until I return._

_See you soon,_

_An old friend_

"She was puzzled by this letter. Who wrote it? Queen Mary couldn't remember anyone who fit this description. She shrugged, and quickly tore the cloth off the top of the basket. And was she ever amazed at what was inside!

"_Oh my!_ Queen Mary said. Inside the basket was a child! A child! Her prayers had been answered! She took the baby out of the basket and held it in her arms. She needed a suitable name for such a wonderful baby. What did she name her baby?"

"Oh" Said Giegue, who was really enjoying the story. "I know! She named him Giegue!"

"That's right!" Maria answered, chuckling. "She named this noble child Giegue, a fitting name for any prince.

"The years flew by, and Giegue grew up to be a strong, marvelous man who would take over the throne for his Mother. He brought the village of Magicant much glory and praise, and it was marked as one of the most memorable times in history."

"Wow… That is such a great story, Maria. I think it's too short at the end, when it talks about me!"

"Oh, Giegue, don't be so egotistical. Although, I do agree with you, the end is a tad abrupt. I'm sure the both of us can work on it together, though!" Maria laughed.

"Anyways, it's time for you to get to sleep! It's past your bedtime!" Maria stood up and gave the capsule a large hug.

"Goodnight, Maria."

"Goodnight, Giegue."

Maria walked towards the door, and turned off the light switch.

"Uhm, Maria?"

She turned around.

"Yes, Giegue?"

"I… I love you."

"Oh, I love you too, honey. Goodnight!"

The door closed tightly behind Maria, and all that was left in the room was darkness, except for the dim, green glow of Giegue's capsule.

"But, Maria… I truly love you."

Genuine had left the Holy Throne to enjoy life. He moved into a small house deep within Margonio. There he studied his world's unbelievably powerful mental skills, named PSI. He had to make sure that what he knew was correct, and learn even more about it. He was going to have to give Maria the talk one day.

Genuine also studied all that his planet knew about Earth. Which wasn't that much, seeing as how it was a very insignificant planet compared to other surrounding them. He had learned that Earth used a technology called 'phones' to communicate from long distances, and that they used woven string to create 'clothes', which kept them warm in the cold months. Clothing intrigued him….

Just then, there was a knock on his door.

"Come in."

"Hello, Genuine." Said Maria.

"Oh, hello, Maria! I haven't seen you since the whole Nycoloptyte deal."

"Err, yeah, about the Nycoloptyte… Giegue doesn't deserve to be locked in that capsule! Is there some other method? He's like a test subject!"

"Hey, don't yell at me."

Genuine sighed.

"Maria, let's take a walk."

The light crystals shone with a calming blue. The underground city of Margonio was, pretty much, just a large cave, with running water. Genuine's house was near the edge of a hill, with steps right outside that descended deeper into Margonio. They passed many other Gaerins, many other buildings, and many strange structures.

"Maria," Genuine said, "Gaerin is much different than Earth. We do not rely on the power of electricity or batteries or cloth to help us survive. Here, in our caves, we rely on our keen eyesight and our sharp hearing to get ourselves around in the world. We build houses out of the items we find around here. We amuse ourselves with what items we find. Children play at the streams, may splash water at each other. They may dunk their feet in the water to cool themselves off. Few people go outside, but if they do, it is mainly for transportation.

"All of this is good and well, but what about our energy source? If you have not noticed, we do not have the same energy as you. Maria, I'm going to tell you a little story…"

George, although taken to Gaerin, and given respect from many people, hated this planet. He wished it would wither up and die. The idiot people on this planet screwed up big time by somehow _accidentally _abducting Maria and himself, and then being _shot in space and out of the sky_ to make a crash landing on this hideous planet? He was taken from his wonderful Earth. He needed his son. He would make it back, no matter what. Of course, he could not do it alone… However, who would just come along and help him escape? In addition, his hatred for Gaerin really did not help.

Maria did not want to leave. She loved Giegue. She just threw away her past, to accept this new life. George wouldn't stand for that. She would have to come. Her love is the only thing that kept him remotely sane these ten years.

He heard Genuine speak of an unimaginable power, named PSI… He said that only the Gaerins knew how to harness its true potential. PSI intrigued him. If only he could learn this power! He would be unstoppable! Then he would be able to leave this horrid planet, take Maria along, and start up where they left off all those years ago!

He started a diary, where he wrote down his life, day by day, writing down notes of what he observed about the Gaerins, and if he could see any of them using PSI.

_Day one: Hello, I am George Franklin. I have started this diary on… Well, I haven't kept count of the days. I hope to achieve ultimate knowledge of this miraculous power on Gaerin, named 'PSI.' I know very little, but I hope to learn more. That is all for today.'_

_Earth,_

_Rural America,_

_1910_

A young boy of the age of ten awoke from his sleep by a loud ringing.

"Hello, and welcome to a new day!" Came a voice. "Time to wake up and eat!"

Yawning, he slowly crawled out of his bed and followed in line with the rest of the zombie-like children to the food hall. The smell of toast and eggs awakened his senses, and he licked his lips.

"Mmm… I love breakfast."

He made his way to the food, and grabbed a plate. He made his way across the table, grabbing a couple pieces of toast, an egg, and some sausages. He made his away to a seat, munching on a piece of toast.

"Hey, John! C'mere! We saved a spot for you!" Shouted out a friend.

John never knew his real parents, or his last name. Everything he knew was inside the Constellation Sirius Orphanage. Here, he would play all day with his friends, eat at the meal times, and sleep. However, as much as he loved it, he would do anything to be adopted and have loving parents. He would love to play baseball wit his dad, or eat his mom's excellent cooking… He just had to wait for it.

"So guys," said Max. "I hear that today there's going to be a couple parents coming in... I've been watching over the past few weeks, and I'm positive that they'll decide today."

"Man, I would love to be adopted… I hope I'm chosen!" Said Henry.

"Ha-ha, you wish! They've had their eye on John, I can see it."

John put down his fork for a second.

"You sure, Max?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure. You had better do something big, or you'll still be stuck here for another ten years. Ha-ha!"

"Hey, shut up, Max." said Henry. "John, even if you don't get picked, remember, we're still here for you."

"Hey, thanks, Henry."

Just then, there was a loud knock on the door. Sheryl, one of the staff members at the orphanage opened the door.

"Oh, hello, Mr. and Mrs. Franklin! Come on in!"

"Ok, John. Today is the day. We're rooting for you."

Now, what's all this about?

Nycoloptyte? How could such a rare disease pop out of nowhere, and hit Giegue, the future king of Gaerin?

Giegue himself seems to be taking it well, but Maria feels like its barbaric… Genuine seems like he has a different perspective on the whole thing, though.

And what's with George? He despises Gaerin… I guess I would too, if its inhabitants ripped me off my planet and dropped me on there's, going at a speed to fast to measure!

And John? Who is this young boy? What significance does he have to any of this?

Hopefully, the answers to these questions will arise somewhere in the next chapter,

Chapter Four

Metallic Maria


	4. Part Three

Chapter Four

Metallic Maria

"Maria," said Genuine, "as you know, we use a telekinetic power called PSI. We use it as our main source of energy. The PSI lights up these crystals, giving us light. It powers our machinery, so that we may build, dig, and create homes. It also powers our own bodies, giving us life… It also can cure our sicknesses and diseases.

"PSI is not just a power that we Ekaterina have acquired – it is as much a necessity as your heart, your brain, and even your immune system. PSI controls our bodies and our lives. Without it, our evolution stages would be so far behind we'd barely understand the importance of avoiding death.

"PSI also has a darker side to it. Instead of bringing life to everything around us, this darker side of PSI has the power to destroy even the most powerful of enemies. This power is not very well known, and is not something you can just 'teach' yourself. Only certain Gaerins have had it. Gormon the Destroyer has got to be the most well known of them. He lived around eighty years ago, deep within our city. He grew up with a serious illness, and doctors were unable to find a cure. It drained his PSI, making him weaker than he would normally be, and unable to support his body.

"This… Dark PSI grows on weak Gaerins. They don't necessarily have to be dying, but those born with very little PSI power that seem to have a very low chance of surviving seem to develop this trait. This evil feeds on the weak, apparently.

"As he grew older, he began to notice strange, strange things happening. He had recurring nightmares about death, plague and destruction of his planet, and of his family burning to ashes.

"Gormon, in his crippled state, could not ask for help except when he was visited. He would ask, 'Why is this happening to me? What did I do?'. The public feared what was happening, for they knew what welled inside of him. They contemplated killing the child, but they decided it was wrongful and shameful.

"However, as these nightmares got worse and worse, and his sickness was growing, he began to go in and out of comas. Sometimes he would awaken, and hallucinate someone in front of him, somebody reaching to him, and telling him stories of how he will die.

"He became so afraid that he himself wanted to die. He just couldn't handle it anymore. One night, while a couple of doctors were on their shift, something inside of Gormon snapped, and his PSI was drained. He had absolutely nothing keeping him alive, aside from the medication, which was doing next to nothing for him. He was going to die, no matter what.

"However… It seems impossible that is PSI could just remove itself from his body. And, it didn't. It was just unnoticeable, making it seem like it did. But, in fact, it was infected by the virus that Gormon had caught, and had gathered into his brain, creating a tumor. The PSI had turned into a visible, tangible object growing on his brain. Without PSI to keep him alive, and a tumor that had mysteriously been created from his remaining PSI, doctors knew that he wouldn't live for more than a couple days. They thought that he could be dead in a matter of minutes, actually.

"A few days later, his systems disintegrated and unable to function, he shut down. He was dead. The doctors didn't know how to break it to the family, although they probably were expecting this for a long time.

"But, the strange thing is, after his body had shut down, the PSI tumor had disappeared. The PSI was flowing through his body. Usually, when a Gaerin dies, the PSI abruptly stops and disappears mysteriously. But no, this PSI was running through his body, just like it would if he was alive.

"… Our PSI is like our DNA. Everybody has their own, individual PSI DNA. However, this body was gone. The PSI should have gone too, with no body to work with.

"And this is how the Dark PSI functions."

_Day Thirty-Nine:_ _This… PSI. I know now that this is the life force of the Gaerins. It is what keeps them alive, keeps their vital organs functioning. They can also use this power for many other things, and even on items that they themselves have built. This PSI is fascinating! I feel like I am on the tracks of something big. This would probably be much easier if I had actual books on this stuff, but it seems its up in wraps. I most likely know but a fraction of what all the Gaerins know._

_I'm finishing up the rest of EVE. I just need to complete her arms and she'll be fully functional. I'm hoping that she will be able to aid me in my research. Because, well, that's what I designed her for._

A monstrous, 8 foot-tall crimson red metallic figure was left slumped over in a corner of George's house, missing a few limbs. It's saucer-like head fell limp, dark diamonds carved into the head to serve as eyes were dark – the machine was turned off.

George lived in the less populated region of Margiono, in a long, dank cave. There he kept everything he needed to live – food, water, and sleeping space. He wandered out every now and then to find out new things, or to go read up on Science and machinery. After doing extensive research on technology, George went to the task of building EVE, his robotic personal assistant. This robot was built to drive, store information, store important or heavy materials, and do the weekly shopping. However, it was mainly going to be used for one thing – PSI research. George didn't know exactly what his plan would be, but he knew that EVE would help, no matter what. EVE could actually help out greatly in anything, so it was a good idea to build it.

George was over in a corner of the 'house', reading up on a book he found about PSI.

"Bah, damn book. Why would there be a children's book on PSI?"

He stood up, dusted himself off, and tossed the colourful book over to a table, missed, and watched it slide down the slick walls of the cave.

"I've got nothing better to do, so I'd better get EVE patched up and ready to work."

Being the hard-working man that he is, he instantly jumped to the heavy arms and began the attachment.

"The PSI," said Genuine, "Seems to bend every natural rule of life. It seems, that without a body, this PSI can still function. But how is that?"

"Hmm. Could it be that perhaps the tumor emits some kind of charge that the PSI is drawn to?"

"Almost. You see, although Gormon died, his soul didn't. This strange tumor was like a beacon, and the soul was attached to it. This PSI has much less strength than regular PSI, therefore incredibly weak forces, such as souls, can be used as a home to store it. From here, the PSI manipulates the soul, controlling it, and, with the power of the tumor, can emit PSI.

"From here, the days got worse. People started dying in the streets, one by one. They were struck down by some unknown force. The townsfolk were scared beyond comprehension, and they locked themselves in their houses. Unfortunately, that didn't help them.

"About a week into this ordeal, the townsfolk received a sign from the PSI, sa-"

"Wait a second. Are we now saying that this PSI is an actual entity? And not just some mental power?"

"Well, yes, Maria. This PSI was able to control the soul, creating an undead organism.

... If we can call it that."

"Anyways, the townsfolk received a sign, saying that it's their turn to suffer. Gormon _wanted_ to die. I mean, really. Who would want to go through all of that? He even told them that he wanted to die.

"By now, they didn't know what to do. They just waited until they were all killed.

"But their deaths never came..."

"What? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, I don't really know. After that message, nobody else died. No more terror, no more messages. Nobody knows exactly what happened, but all we do know is that it almost seems as though that one power still strikes down the weak. There's only been two other incidents, both of which fizzled before anything bad happened. But, now..."

"Now what? I haven't noticed anything happen around here."

Genuine grinned. What a naïve woman.

Sheryl offered Mr and Mrs Franklin seats.

"Now," she said, "I don't mean to be terribly rude, but, do you think that on this visit, you two are ready to pick a child? It's just that, every time you get here, the children think you're ready to adopt."

Mr. Franklin let out a laugh. "Well, we're ready to pick this time, don't worry. "

"After interacting with them, who do you think is the most right?"

The orphangage was quiet. All the children were eyeing the door to the adoption room, waiting for somebody to come out, somebody to tell them that they have a new family, somebody to go home with.

"I wonder what's taking them so long?" Said Henry.

"It doesn't matter, it's not like any of us are going to be picked." answered Max.

"Hey, I wouldn't be so sure. I think each of us has an equal chance of being adopted."

And then, the door opened. The children perked up as Sheryl walked out, with Mr and Mrs Franklin. They looked around the room, looking for their new child. And then, they pointed in the direction of John.

"John... Hey! I think they're picking you!" Whispered Max.

"Henry, would you come with us?" Sheryl said.

Henry was shocked. After six years, waiting, waiting, he was finally adopted by a loving family! And Mr and Mrs Franklin looked like wonderful parents.

"M-me? Sheryl?"

"Yes." She smiled. "Come now, we need to get you on your way."

Henry slowly made it over to his new parents, and hugged them.

"Hello, Mr. And Mrs. Franklin..."

"Please, son, call us Mom and Dad."

"Okay... Dad."

They opened the door, and Henry left, leaving with a smile and a wave to his friends. His friends that he would never see again.

_Day Fifty-Nine: I have made a huge discovery! Apparently, deep within the Holy Throne, there is a vault containing a book, which tells the deepest secrets of PSI. This power is not just some form that is used for everyday stuff, there's something behind it that could benefit mankind! Something that could bring peace to Earth! It won't be any trouble for me to get ahold of it, though..._

Hmm. So PSI is really some sort of strange, mysterious, powerful strength that is not just toned down to be used in everyday life?

What's this about A book about PSI? Could it tell us more than Genuine told Maria?

And What about he orphanage? About Henry? And John? And Max? Maybe Henry will have something significant in all of this...

Tune in next time, for the action-packed Combo of Part Three,

Chapter 5

16-06-00

and

Chapter 6

The Beacon


	5. Part Four

Chapter 5

16-06-00

Located under the boiling surface of Gaerin, the dank, dark cave-town of Margiono was a flurry of activity. Despite it being ugly in appearance, a tidy population of just over three thousand lived here. It was quite a small number, considering it was a capitol, and how the Queen's homestead, the Holy Throne, resided within.

Queen Gaiue the VI lived here, until her untimely death around two years ago, after the Gaerin Battlecruiser she was being shipped in was unexpectedly attacked by space pirates riding invisible Panzer Cannons. Only a few short hours before her death, she gave birth to a small boy, by the name of Giegue. This child was to be the next King of Gaerin.

In the few hours before the crash, some buttons were mistakenly pressed while they hovered above the small, blue-green spherical planet named Earth. During the very brief period between the said buttons being pressed and the time when they were turned off, two of the dominating species on Earth were captured by a large ray of light emanating from the ship, and they were sweeped up into the Cargo Bay, without a trace.

These two ape-descendants had no political, religious, or community-specific powers to speak of – they were just two young humans that lived on this planet. In the big sense of things, their disappearance would make no shift in the history of Earth, and even less on the Universe.

However, their return would be one of the single greatest historical undertakings in the known universe for thousands of years.

The two were named George and Maria. They were a couple in love, who had been whisked away from their life, and from their newborn baby boy. For some reason, Maria took the change in lifestyle quite well – but George despised the planet of Gaerin, and most, if not all, of it's inhabitants. The only reason he didn't plot his escape the moment he set foot on Gaerin, is because of his wife Maria.

She was stuck in a fantasy world, where her life on Earth ceased to exist. All that was in her life was Giegue, The Holy Throne, and the planet of Gaerin. She didn't seem to mind at all that her real, newly-born son was thrown into an orphanage only a few weeks after being cared for by their neighbors. In the orphanage he lived with his friends, Henry and Max, until all three were adopted, one by one.

The Holy Throne in which Maria resided in was a very strange place indeed. It was a large, mysterious, maze-like palace that was tucked away in the eastern corner of Margiono.It was filled with doors. Many, many doors. Doors made a of wood, of marble, of glass. They led to an impossible amount of places – bedrooms, washrooms, beaches, airplane terminals, galaxies – you name it, one of the doors has it.

There are many secrets that are hidden away in this marvelous palace, unknown even to the most knowledgeable. One of these secrets is of a book thought to be lost decades ago...

Three floors below the basement of the Holy Throne resides a large vault connected to the rocky walls of the cavern. Guards take turns guarding this vault, so as to protect the precious book from thieves. Nobody knows where these Gaerins were born, where they are raised, where they live, (let alone where they are), but one thing is for certain – they are as much of a secret as the vault itself.

These guards have a right to stand guard, however. This book, which is too monstrous and evil to be viewed by the public, but too valuable and powerful to be destroyed, contains the answers. Answers to everything. Life, The Universe... Everything.

However, this is not the entire book, not at all. You see, the actual size of the book would require millions of pages of written material, thousands upon thousands of writers to document every little thing located in the universe, and tens of thousands of dollars to publish it.

So, after the work was done, the people soon realised that the book was too powerful. You could figure out anything, from how to destroy an invading army to how to make your own soap. The writers were scared, they were _terrified _ of what they knew. So they did the only thing that they could to save themselves from the torment – they committed suicide.

Only one version of this book was every printed. Only one copy, only of death note was written to the universe.

It was slowly broken up into individual parts. Part sixteen told about elephants, while part two hundred and four told about the constellations visible from the planet Earth.

Part eight thousand, five hundred and forty-two was delivered to the planet of Gaerin nearly two hundred years ago. The king accepted it kindly from the shippers. However, after reading its contents, he realized that this book must never fall into the publics hands.

Not to be one to destroy a great milestone in history, he hastily locked it up in an underground vault and placed two guards to keep watch. It was a devious secret. A ingenious, devious secret.

Secrets, however, always find a way of squirming out into _somebody's _hands.

George just sat in his den, reading the yellowed parchment once more.

_'To Whom It May Concern,_

_I hid it. I, Gerald The III, have hid the book._

_At first, I found it kind that the strange aliens dropped off the book._

_However, after reading it, I soon realized that is anyone were to get their hands on this..._

_Life as we know it may cease to exsist._

_It's not like the whole book itself consists of death and despair that can be tapped in by any one of our citizens, it's just that, well... Whoever wrote this, sure knows what they're talking about. I've read stories about quite a few of these... Dark PSI encounters. They aren't normal. They are demonic powers that should never be used. But I cannot just wave a hand to my desciples and politely ask them not to be corrupted..._

_There's an entry in the book that tells about the power to 'absorb' PSI. And by this, I mean_ _that any alien who finds this book, puts enough time and effort into it, and has a willing soul, could easily accept the powers of PSI. And the book goes into detail about how the PSI rejects the soul, and... Oh, I can't bear to think of it._

_So that's why I hid it. This parchment must never leave the Holy Throne, in case it was not mentioned earlier._

_Make sure nobody gets their hands on this._

_In case of some emergency, the only way to get to the book is through a wall in the second floor of the Holy Throne. There are two doors, exactly identical. Between the two doors there are a few specks of green, almost like mold. Tap these in this order:_

_o_

_o_

_o o o_

_ o o_

_oo_

_o o_

_Note that nothing will happen. However, this wall is now just a mirage, leading you through a winding path._

_You will get into a small hole, in which you will have to crawl through. After around five minutes, you'll come to an opening a few meters above the ground. You can easily spot the vault from here._

_The combination for the vault is.._

_16-06-00._

_That's it. The door will be able to open and close from there. The book can then be accessed. But please, don't use it for evil. The only reason I laid out directions was only for the good that this book may bring. For the healing, and the restoration of our sun-parched land._

_Please. My wife, my daughter... Keep good care of this book, and this parchment. Don't let our people down. I will not be returning from my journey. Please, live on your lives, and don't weep for me. I cannot return to my people. I'm hoping to sign up for the Honduop Galaxy Army, honourably fighting for our inevitable freedom._

_Love,_

_Gerald'_

The just sat there. Astonished. After months of hard labor and delicate precision, he finally found the big haul. This book supposedly held the secrets to amazing miracles that could save Earth from it's shattered and bruised war-torn exterior. He could single-handedly save his planet.

He couldn't just stand here. He had to get started on this straight away. He would need to plan it though... Those guards that were mentioned in the letter – could they still be alive? No way. Then again, George didn't have a very good idea of how long these Gaerins could live for... Even still, this is a huge secret. I don't think they would just let it die after one generation passed away. Maybe they have something else set up for after the guards die? He then jumped up after nearly forgetting about EVE. She would be _very_ helpful on a trek like this. She could be the one to 'crack' open the vault, take care of whatever is guarding said vault – in other words, she'd be the one getting her hands dirty.

Of course, fighting can't get you everywhere, not on this planet. One human and one robot could never stand up to such a powerful menace like an entire planet. They would be shocked, insulted, and outright offended to hear news of this secret. And, when an entire planet doesn't like you in the first place, pulling off a stunt like this certainly won't get you to the cool kids' table.

He looked out of the window in his dimly-lit den. There stood the Holy Throne.

_Tomorrow,_ he thought, _ I will bring this place into hell._

The sounds of dawn had not been heard yet, but already George was up, planning.

'Ok... I have my shuttle ready, parked out of the entrance to Margiono. EVE can handle the driving, I can handle the guns... We need to make sure we execute the vault before five thirty... EVE? EVE! Do you have our supplies ready?"

EVE was slumped over in a corner, packing utensils such as food, water, clothing, and reading materfial for the ride home and the inevitable landing on the rich soil of Earth. She gave a quick nod, and went back to her work.

"Good lass... Alright, all that's left is... For Maria."

The time was slowly crawling its way to four o'clock in the morning when there was a loud rap on Maria's bedroom door.

After being rudely awakened from her pleasant dream, Maria tried to rub the sleep out of her eyes, but failed. The rapping continued.

"I'm coming, I'm coming... Who could it be at this hour?"

She lifted herself from her soft, warm, intimidating bed and slowly creaked open the aging door.

"Oh, George! What are you doing here? And at this hour?" Maria said aloud in surprise.

"Maria, my dear... It's been a while, hasn't it?"

He held out his arms for a hug, a grin sneaking across his face. Maria stood there, still half-asleep, but fully aware of what was going on. She hesitated, and then shook his right hand. He frowned.

"Maria... Can I talk to you?"

"... And that's the whole story. I want you to come with me, Maria! Together, we can escape back to our life on Earth, back to our house, our lives, our... Son... And with the knowledge in the book, we can save our planet! We can rid it of disease and war!"

Maria lay in her bed, staring into space.

"Maria? Are you listening?"

She looked over to George, and mumbled a soft, "No."

George was taken aback. What was she thinking?

"What... Why? There's nothing for you on this planet! The only reason we've been spared is because that... that... stupid alien took a liking to you! The second he becomes a man and takes over the Throne, they'll have no more use for you, and just slaughter you in the dungeons! I don't want that to happen!"

"How _dare_ you talk about Giegue that way! He is a terminally ill child! He may not even see adulthood! He should be able to have somebody in his life who cares about him! He is my boy! I will not leave his side!" She was mad as ever, and George quietly decided it probably wasn't the best idea to say that.

"But, Maria... I love you. You're my wife. I don't want you to die on this horrid rock. Don't you want to get back to Earth? We can take care of our own child, there... You can take care of your flowers... We can still live a perfectly normal life."

"No. I said, no. My life is here, on Gaerin. I am Giegue's mother. He _will_ be raised, and I _will_ stay here with him."

George jumped to his feet, his face going red.

"Maria! Have you completely forgotten about our life back on Earth! Did you just push the memory of our newborn boy out of your head? Do you just think that somebody down there on Earth will just come along and scoop him up? He's probably dead! My first child, dead, and my own wife doesn't even shed a tear to the loss of a family member! I cried, night after night, of the loss of our town, our friends, and our child! I want to go back! I _need_ to go back! Maria, you're still a large part of my life, and I can't live on without you!"

"I _told_ you, my life is here, with my son! Now leave, George! We've probably woken everyone up!"

The room fell silent for a moment. Then, George slumped over, defeated. He headed towards Maria, and held out his arms once again for a hug. But Maria gave him nothing, not even a handshake.

"Maria... Fine. Go on living here. Just remember what could've been..." And he left the room without a noise.

Maria sat up in her bed, sighing. She reluctantly reached under her bed, and pulled out a laced box, the pink top faded slightly. She pulled off the cover, and laid it next to her on the bed. Inside of the box was a beautiful multi-hued stone with music notes crudely carved into the exterior.

As dawn broke, Maria quietly hummed a faint melody into the stone.

"Alright. Maria is out. But that doesn't mean we can't still pull this off, right EVE?"

Eve gave a slow nod and gestured for George to continue.

"That's my EVE... Anyways, here we are. The second floor. Right... Here. Yeah. Here we are. And, the order was..."

He began tapping the specks on the wall in the order stated. Any passerby would probably think him a mad man for tapping on walls, but he kept on at it.

Finally, he was done. He took in a deep breath, all the worrisome questions buzzing in his mind. '_what if it doesn't work? What if this is a hoax? What if I set this all up for nothing?'_

He put out his hand to feel the nothingness of space.

He felt the familiar texture of wallpaper softly sand the back of his hand as it ran down the wall.

"Damn... I knew it! It was all a fake!" He punched the wall, furious.

If EVE wasn't there, he probably would've fallen and obtained a nasty scratch on his legs due to the rocky terrain of the narrow pathway.

"Hey... Hey! We did it! We got to the pathway! Er, let's keep moving... Not much time left."

They slowly made their way through the narrow passageway, crawled through the dusty space at the end, and could visibly spot the vault.

They were barely meters above the ground below, and they could spot the vault tucked away in the other corner of the room. George just lay there, amazed. The vault actually existed. The vault, containing the single most important book in the universe to him, actually existed.

He quickly looked around the room after nearly forgetting about the 'guards' that were mentioned in the letter.

"Hmm... I don't see anything. How about you, EVE?"

She shook her head, and continued to survey the room.

After a thorough check, the two wriggled out from the crawl space and landed on the ground. After picking themselves up, they made their way to the vault.

It stood a neat twelve feet, and was significantly wider than a tub. The turn dial was bigger than Georges' head – it would obviously take both of his hands to turn it.

"Alright, EVE. Are you ready?"

With all his strength, he slowly pushed the dial into the direction of 6, turned it to the right, turned it to 16, turned it left, and rested it on 00...

A loud _clang_ emanated from inside the door, and the handle to the right loosened. He grabbed a hold of it with both hands, pulling firmly. After several rough tugs, the door was wide enough for both him and EVE to squeeze through.

The vault inside was much different from the room it was held in – it was a large, white cube. The walls were white, the floor was white, the ceiling was white...

The only thing that broke this pattern was a large, hard-covered live grey book that rested on a large, white pedestal

"Jackpot."

The time was only five in the morning, but Maria was restless. She took the blue stone from earlier in the morning and went to Giegue's room, softly knocking on the splintering plank of wood.

After the meeting with George, she had a lot to think about. Of course she wanted to stay with Giegue! For the past ten years, she brought him up in an honourable, loving matter. His intellect grew and grew under her nuturing, and he helped develop the one thing that helps keep himself alive. In ten years, she taught a young child how to be an adult in the coming years.

She wanted him to be a man. She knew some day, for some reason, she would leave this planet, and go back to her home. Some day... She wanted Giegue to grow out of his sickness, to be a man through his hard times, a man through the good times.

But, now that George brought up this plan, she realized that this could be one of the easiest ways to return home... However, she knew that Giegue would be crushed, and that the one and only nuturing figure in his life would have betrayed his entire culture, his entire race.

She thought it over well. In the end, she came to the conclusion of leaving Giegue's planet. Leaving him behind, leaving _it_ behind, leaving behind the past ten years of her life and returning to her former life which would very likely be in shambles after the initial disappearance.

Wait a minute, that doesn't sound like a very good life to go ba-

"Maria?" Giegue yawned. "What are you doing here? It must be four in the morning..."

"Giegue, there's something going on tonight that I feel you should know about... What are you doing out of your capsule?"

Giegue was at the door, holding the knob in his hand, his eyes half shut. Maria could see at the other end of the room, his capsule was still encased in the large 'box' that was created to allow Giegue sleep while still in his container so he wouldn't die in the middle of the night. However, instead of being in his capsule, he was walking around on his feet, and there was evidence that he was sleeping in the rocking chair Maria used, due to the blanket that was strewn over it.

"Oh, yeah... My nycoloptyte is starting to show signs of weaning, according to Genuine. So now I can finally walk around and do stuff! But, I can only be out for around twenty-four hours, and even then, that could be hazardous. So I should be getting back into it tomorrow night... Or, should I say, tonight, heh."

"That's nice... Uhm, Giegue, we really need to talk."

"Alright. What is it?"

They both went to the rocking chair at the other end of the room, Giegue taking the chair and Maria sitting on the edge of the box.

"Giegue... I've brought you up into this... Er, world. I have taught you while being taught myself. It's hard to bring up a child that is so different from yourself in a place so unlike anything you've ever experienced..."

"Yes, Maria... Your my mom."

"Yeah, your mom... Uh, Giegue, have you ever got the urge to _do_ something? I mean, like, visit different places. Get out of Margiono, leave Gaerin?"

"... Nope. I like just living here with you. Besides, my nycoloptyte has really hindered me."

She smiled. What an interesting vocabulary for a ten year-old.

"But Giegue, you can't stay attached to me forever. The babies always have to leave the nest, they can't stay cooped up forever."

"Well, maybe, in a few more years, but I don't think that would ever happen. I'm the next king, remember?"

"Ah, yes, I nearly forgot..."

She suddenly frowned. She forgot all about him becoming king. Well, there goes the plan to bring him along...

"Giegue, you remember where I came from, right?"

"Yes, Earth... You told me about it when I was younger."

"Yes, yes... Well, it's been over ten years since I've been home. I really miss it. Don't you think you would miss Margiono if you went somewhere else?"

"Yeah, I love this place! I love being here with you, and just living my life out here..."

"Well, my home is billions of light years away. Not just a couple thousand miles... Billions of light years. That's quite a distance. It'd be really nice to go home, and see what I've missed..."

Giegue frowned. He may be ten, but he knew when something was up.

"So, what are you getting to...?"

George narrowly missed the steel spike wall that popped out of the wall directly to his left, after being wrapped up in the blaring siren and the strange death threat that was voiced from some inconceivable place in the cavern.

"Agh... God damnit... That letter was a ruse! Everybody in Margiono knows about this book! Eurgh... EVE! Help out! Try to bash down this wall!"

George didn't plan for an escape route, mainly because he just _assumed_ that there would be an exit of some sort. But, no luck. He had to resort to using brute force to find a way out.

The wall crumbled under EVE's immense strength, revealing a long, winding path that (hopefully) led to freedom.

"C'mon, EVE! Let's go!"

Ducking just in the nick of time, he was able to miss a poison-tipped saber flying at him from the back wall, which embedded itself into the dirt in front of him.

"Giegue, I have no better way to put this, so I'll just go ahead and say it... I'm going back to Earth."

Giegue knew that she was going to utter those devestating words, his heart slowly twisting, until it burst after those words were said.

"But... Don't you like me? Aren't you supposed to be my mother?"

"Yes, well, that may be true, but, I miss my home. I don't want to be selfish or anything, but you are a grown man. You can take care of yourself. Genuine is still here, and I know that he can take care of you from now on. Something... _Something_ is going to happen tonight, and there's something involved in it that will allow me to return to my home... to Earth."

"So, that's just it. You're leaving me. Just like that. No warning, just leaving." He had an angry tone in his voice, and he frowned deeply.

"But, Giegue, I thought you would understand... I can't stay here forever. I knew that the moment I got here. I would have to return home some day."

There was a long pause while Giegue tried to sort out his emotions that were now laying in shambles.

"Why? Why didn't you give me warning? I bet I would have taken this better if you told me a couple years ago... Anybody would. But right now, when I'm growing up, when I need a leading figure in my life, you decide to leave? Why would anyone do that? That's... That's _sick!_" He spat the last word at her.

"Giegue, calm down! I'm so sorry that this all had to happen."

"You better be! I don't know why the guards didn't even kill you when you landed here! All aliens are supposed to be discarded on contact with our planet! And you and your horrible husband... George, that sick man, you've defiled our land!"

Maria was shocked at what Giegue was saying. She knew this was going to be a touchy subject, but he was completely overreacting.

"Giegue, I was going to-

"No! I've had enough! Get out! Go back to your husband! Get off my planet!"

Maria was starting to get irritated.

"Fine! I just wanted to get you to handle this like an adult, but you overreacted! Giegue, if that's how it's going to be... Fine. Let's part on bad terms. I wanted you to take this well... Goodbye, Giegue."

And with that, she promptly left the door with a loud _thud_.

Giegue just sat there, crying.

Chapter Six

The Beacon

Maria heard a loud siren going off as soon as she left the room, and she instantly realized that it must be George. This must be his 'signal'.

She raced to the entrance of the Holy Throne, and slowly pushed the large gate open. There, she saw in the distance, a human figure and a large red monstrosity escaping into the early morning.

"George. Oh how I've missed you."

She started to catch up to him.

Giegue wiped away the tears, and stood up. He sniffled slightly.

He wasn't about to let his mom, his only figure, his.. _love_ leave without him saying goodbye. He needed to take back what he said to her, and quick. So, he also left the Holy Throne, and ran after the dancing nightgown that was running towards the opening to Gaerin.

"Damnit... This whole planet knew about this book! I bet that note was a trick! I bet they set this whole thing up just to get me off this planet! Those bastards!" George heaved, running at full tilt towards the gaping mouth of Margiono.

Genuine had just woken up and began to sip his morning tea. Today, he decided, was the day that he finally got those darn kids to stop rough-housing in his library.

As he turned his head to look out upon the sleeping city of Margiono, he saw four figures running, escaping from the town, closely followed by a large, angry mob of Gaerins.

"Oh, bloody hell."

George heard nothing, saw nothing, touched nothing. All that ran through the tightly-wound pile of flesh was the instinctive jolt that told it to run, to jump, to escape from the impending threat at any cost.

He could see the spaceship from here. He could see the seats, the gun, the cockpit... He was nearly there! Only a couple hundred more yards...

"George! Wait! I'm coming with you!" Maria's voice echoed in the cavern, but George could not hear. He had blocked out everything. His past ten years of his life on this planet were devoted to escaping. He wasn't going to be distracted by anything.

"Maria! Wait! I want to come with you!" Maria wasn't paying attention to anything, she could hear very little except her heavy breathing and the sounds of her feet slapping against wet rock.

The mob following Giegue was running in a loose circular formation, compiled of around fifty or more Gaerins. They blocked out everything but their own angry yelling and the sight of the human who fell for their trap.

If only they didn't bait it with the _actual_ book, maybe the fact that George's escape was inevitable wouldn't be so incredibly important to the future of the whole planet of Gaerin, maybe the whole universe.

Genuine was running at full speed, and was able to closely follow the mob, but was really trying to catch up with George. He _had_ to stop him! He knew exactly what was going on, and he _had_ to stop it. Genuine knew that the moment George entered the crash-landing Battlecruiser, he meant trouble.

George reached the spaceship. It was a tidy little spaceship, big enough to hold around twenty people, and it had a small kitchen able to hold months worth of food. It also wielded a washroom, in case of emergencies.

It was silver, with a couple of scratches that could easily be buffed out. The door was on the side of the ship, which, when entered, led straight to the cockpit. From there, one could access the gun that was placed on top of the ship, and it would just take a matter of seconds to get it working.

He jumped on to the door, and ripped it open. EVE and him escaped inside, shutting the door with a loud _BANG_. EVE immediately went to the control panel and fired it up, and George climbed the ladder to the gun drone.

He propped him up on the seat of the gun drone, which was rather comfortable. He closed the bubble lid tightly, leaving just enough space for the gun to poke through, allowing him to shoot down any Gaerins that may be a threat.

"Alright! Here we go! Fire it up, EVE, we're going home!"

He was ecstatic. Even though Maria was mad at him, even though he wasted ten years of his life here, even though he knew he would never see his son, and he could never return to his normal life, he was immensely happy. He hated Gaerin, and always visualized blowing the whole damn thing sky high.

He plopped the book on the small panel to the left of the gun, and grabbed hold of the trigger. The gun was basically a very large mini-gun, except without the immense weight.

Just then, he saw Maria pop out of the mouth of the cave, with Giegue coming soon after.

"A-ha... There's that scum who stole my wife for _ten years_... I'm not letting him live any longer! I'm going to put a stop to the honorable family of the Kings and Queens of Gaerin...

"Ma... Maria!" Giegue yelled from behind her, grabbing her shoulder.

She turned around swiftly, not even knowing that Giegue was following her.

"Giegue! You came! But it's too late, he's alread-

"Maria... Listen to me. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything I said. I'm so sorry... I didn't mean it at all, I was overreacting, I was grumpy, I got no sleep, I... I..." He was sobbing through his tears, and he hung his head.

"Giegue... It's too late. We can't go now, George has already taken off... But, I forgive you. I knew you didn't mean any of it. I'm so sorry I took so long to tell you, it's my fault."

She held out her hands for a hug, and Giegue accepted. He rested his chin on her shoulder, sobbing quietly. He pat his head, trying to calm him down.

"It's all right, I'll come back and be your mother..."

"I've got you now, you disgusting alien!"

George pulled the trigger tightly, and it fired off five shots.

Just then, Maria reached over to give Giegue a warm hug.

Time had stopped.

Maria felt a strange sensation in her chest, as though somebody had been squeezing her heart incredibly hard. She started to back away from Giegue.

Then both of them spotted it.

There was a large, bloody gaping hole that ripped through her nightgown, and was spilling blood all over the ground.

She then noticed another hole. This one went straight through her left leg, which caused her to sprawl onto the ground in front of Giegue.

She didn't move.

She continued not to move.

"MARIA!"

This horrendous site helped to fuel his sobbing.

He bent down and lifted her up.

"MARIA! NO! WAKE UP!"

He sobbed and sobbed. He looked at her pale face. Her eyes had rolled into the back of her head, and her lips were open, slowly spilling out small bursts of blood.

"MARIAAAA!"

Something small and blue rolled out of her pocket. Sniffling, Giegue picked it up while still holding onto Maria with one hand.

He looked up at the departing spaceship. It was nearly out of his sight, but he could still see George.

George, the man who kill his mother.

George instantly clutched the gun handle, completely blown away at what had just happened.

He had just witnessed his wife of twelve years die a terrible, gruesome death.

What made it worse, however, was the fact that he killed her. George struck down his own loving wife.

"MARIA! Damnit, NO!"

He couldn't believe what he has just done. He just couldn't.

All this time, he had been trying to help her escape, trying to persuade her to come with her... And she agreed.

But then he killed Maria.

George and EVE flew off into space, a lingering sense of loss gripping the ship.

Genuine was breathing heavily at the mouth of the cave, watching George's spaceship blast off.

"Damn... He's gone."

Once the dust died down, Genuine surveyed the area for Giegue and Maria. To the right was a grey figure – Giegue.

As he approached, he noticed Giegue was bent down over something...

"... Giegue?"

And then he saw the gruesome mess that was Maria. He really didn't know what to do or say to Giegue in this type of situation, but all he knew was that they needed to get out of here – fast. That mob would be coming after the 'one who rules the Holy Throne', regardless whether it was a terminally sick ten year-old or not. It was stated in the paper sent from King Gerald that the one who was to rule over the planet of Gaerin must be destroyed once the Book of PSI was stolen, so as to get rid of the horrible shame that would befall Gerald the Great. Sure, it sounded selfish – but it wasn't the first time something this horrible happened.

Genuine then tried to get Giegue away from this tragedy, because if he stayed here for only a few more moments, the both of them would be destroyed.

"Giegue... I'm... So sorry about what happened, but-

"No! You don't know what this is like!" Giegue, although still wrapped up in what had just unfolded, noticed that Genuine was getting closer to him.

"I lost my only family in the entire universe! I have nobody else out there who cares about me! I'm just a useless person stuck here now! I have nobody to grow up with, to teach me... I'm only ten! I have tons to learn!"

"Giegue, I know this is terrible, but we have to get out of here, be-

"Yes, yes... Before I'm killed... I know, Genuine! I've read your books! But I don't care, there's no reason for me to live anymore..."

Genuine grabbed Giegue's arm, trying to pull him up, but he pulled away.

"Maria was my mother, and I loved her! My love went beyond the relationship of a mother and a child... I _loved_ her! I can't express my feelings for her in the limited vocabulary that I have... Just, go away! Let me die! I have nothing to live for!"

A soft breeze gently caressed the surface, lightly blowing Maria's golden hair. The temperature was rising. Dawn was breaking.

"Giegue... You don't know me. All that you know is that I'm some old man who lives on the hill. But I have lost plenty. I didn't even _know_ my parents. They were held hostage on an alien world. Even after our planet gave the terrorists what they wanted, they killed them... They killed them without mercy. I had to live in a foster home for my entire life, until they set me out on the world alone, with no parents, nothing.

"I slowly made my way up the ranks, and I became the loyal servant to the Holy Throne. It took a lot, and I started with nothing. You... You're a prince of an entire planet. You could start something big. You can't give up, after something this trivial compared to the loss felt over the entire universe, over time..."

A long pause followed. Giegue's sobbing was beginning to slow.

"Now, come on. We need to get going."

As Giegue slowly let Maria lay on the sandy surface, a small, blue orbed made its way out of her pocket. He had enough time to grab it before Genuine pulled him off and began to make his way to the beacon shuttle.

The beacon was an incredibly large space shuttle, consisting of hundreds of floors what were mainly useless. It was never used, and the only purpose it had was to send and receive communications with other planets and galaxies. However, the ship was still fully functional. Its absurd size almost made it seem unable to blast off more than a few meters from the ground, but it was actually basically a hollowed-out mile long cylinder.

There was an emergency blast-off button located on the ground floor. It would most likely be pressed even when there wasn't an emergency, seeing as how most people would be too lazy to walk up the incredible amount of steps just to get to the control room.

The main entrance doors crawled open as Giegue and Genuine started to get closer and closer. Once inside, the doors gave a finalizing clang.

From there, Genuine started to get the ship ready. He left Giegue near the entrance on the first floor, telling him to stay put. Before he ran up the flight of stairs to the left, he offered Giegue a chair, which is hesitantly took.

Giegue stopped crying. Instead, he decided to think about life, and all of it's complexities. As the ship slowly began it's ascent, he came to the conclusion that this was nothing, literally _nothing_ compared to the rest of the galaxy. One loss? Trivial. It meant nothing to the entire future of the Universe.

He looked at the blue sphere, which he still carried in his hand. He moved it around in his hands. It was quite smooth.

As he moved it about, a voice suddenly crackled out of the stone.

'_This is for my wonderful son, Giegue._'


	6. Part Five

Okay, I just want to say one thing, because I've been implementing something into the story so far, and you might not have caught it, since it was so subtle, and since the beginning of this chapter will make you confused:

Five years on Gaerin equals one year on Earth. Thats... 73 days per year on Gaerin. So while its only been around two and a half years on Earth, it's been something like

Chapter Seven

The One Sailing the Cosmos

The white, sterile, 104-story ship drifted along on the waves of the cosmos, following the path of destiny.

The night was just like any of the other one hundred eighty-four. The stars hung lazily around them, the large ship slowly parting the sheets of darkness to allow itself to move. It was deathly quiet, not just in space, but in the ship itself.

Giegue sat alone in his room, where he spent most of his time since the traumatizing events that unfolded on the day that The Sun Was Forbidden To Set. He kept the small blue trinket that he found sprawled on the ground by Maria's corpse, and listened to her now silenced voice melt away his troubles.

The song that played from the rock was both sooting and utterly painful. It helped him try to calm his soul, his overly emotional soul, but it also cut him like a knife. He had grown addicted to his rock, because it brought him pleasure. Every time he played it, however, the realization that Maria would never return began to grow inside his mind.

He couldn't sleep. Nobody out there, in the _vast_ land of the universe, not one living organism cared for him.

Nobody at all.

However, he still had somebody that hated him, that loathed him, that wished him to die in the most painful ways possible – just because this organism has mistakenly altered his plans to end Giegue's life.

He gained an enemy after losing a mother.

Genuine was aboard this ship, as well – however, Giegue and Genuine didn't spend much time together. They spent times during breakfast in the kitchen, which was conveniently located on the same floor as the bedrooms, but that was mainly it. They both had lunch and supper, but rarely at the same time.

Genuine knew that the young child needed some help, but he just didn't know what to do. Whenever he talked to Giegue, he locked himself in his room, mid-sentence. This was an obviously emotionally-broken child, lost in the universe, nobody to help him get back on track. He would just waste away, dwelling on lost memories that would never return. He was thirteen, he didn't know any better, and he didn't have his mother to grow up with.

He knew that one of these days he had to do something, and that's why he devised a simple procedure he had to repeat a certain amount of times, and hopefully Giegue would come around.

_Children are a lot different than machines,_ he thought.

His plan was to first try to get Giegue over Maria. It was a huge loss, but Giegue was taking this way too far. Nobody could be this attached to anyone, ever.

Then he would try to get to spend some time with Giegue, not just so that they could bond, but also so that Giegue could get some interaction with somebody, with other life.

George poured himself a steaming cup of... Some yellow liquid that he was hoping was the Gaerin form of coffee. It tasted strange, but it had the same kick as coffee did.

Ah, coffee. He hadn't tasted it in... What, two, maybe three years? Yes, ever since George and Maria were...

It had been over half a year since the... Incident, and although George got over the loss, just bringing up the name _Maria_made him cringe. Over half a year ago, he had accidentally shot his very own wife through the heart and the left calf muscle while attempting to annihilate the small Gaerin prince, Giegue.

Killing your own wife isn't something that you can just live with. The guilt and the sorrow will hang with you forever, despite the fact that you now have gotten over the loss of the actual person. No sane person ever could.

Of course, who ever said that George was a sane man anymore?

EVE was busy piloting the rather large ship, piloting it back to Earth. She had been at her station for every single of the four thousand, four hundred and twenty hours that had passed since they escaped from Gaerin. George rarely communicated with her, and since she wasn't a fully operational robot, most conversations were dry and merely a waste of time.

I mean, what is there to talk about after being cooped up for so many days in a smelly, isolated container?

George looked around the cramped kitchen. He counted how many dots there were on the ceiling... 155. Same as the last time. And the time before that. And eve before that.

In case it wasn't infuriatingly obvious, there was absolutely nothing to do on this spaceship but eat and sleep. To pass the time, George jotted down notes on EVE, and what he needed to do to create a more life-like, social robot.

Sigh.

146 days left until Earth.

"I wonder how many doors there are aboard this ship..."

"Giegue? Giegue, we need to talk."

Giegue turned over in his cot. He didn't really have any reason to ignore Genuine, other than he wanted to mourn some more.

"Listen. It's been something like two and a half years since this happened. You have to get over this. It's alright to cry and cry and want to be alone during the beginning of something like this... But _two years?_ Most people are able to get over it in a week. This is absurd."

"Genuine, just... Leave me alone. I want to lie down some more, lea-

"No! Are you joking? More time lying down is more time slowly killing yourself! Get up! We have to talk."

"I feel fine right here, thanks."

"You... ugh, you may not have a mother, or be the Prince of an entire planet anymore... You may not have a home, and you may be incredibly sad... But get over it! People have lost entire families, their homes, all their possessions, they have nowhere to go, no friends to seek refuge with... And yes, they may have been burdened by a terrible loss, but they got _over it!_"

Giegue slowly turned to face Genuine. The other side was getting kind of itchy, anyways.

"You don't need to be so angry. At all. Calm down, and I _may_ listen to you."

Genuine held his mouth. He then did what looked like some form of meditation by breathing in and out. He then began to talk once more.

"Alright. Listen. Come with me. I need to get you out of this room... To get on with your life."

The room echoed. The floor echoed. The entire ship echoed.

It was quite a bland room – white, nothing but white. Two white chairs were tucked away in a corner, which only came into Giegue's view after Genuine pulled them out (and even then he had to feel around to find it). He took a seat, followed by Genuine.

"Alright... Where to begin? Are you ready to listen?"

"... Yes. I'm ready to listen to you. Don't think that I'll agree, though."

Genuine smiled. Giegue came too easily to him. Maybe all the kid wanted was a new figure in his life, a father figure...

"Okay. It's been over two years. The loss was horrible, especially seeing as how – according to you – he was aiming to kill you, instead. But you need to remember that what doesn't kill _you_, only makes you stronger. We have lots to work with, here. There's nowhere to go but up. I'm pretty sure you hit rock bottom here, Giegue."

He paused. Giegue looked like he had something on his mind.

"Lets see... George. George made this happen. Wouldn't he be the real reason you are so sad? Isn't it all his fault?"

Giegue nodded. It was tough for him to talk about this, especially that horrible man, George...

"Alright. Well, we can turn that sadness into power. What if he were to find his way back here, and try to finish you off once more? I could most likely get rid of him, but that robot of his is serious business... That's why you need to be able to stand up for yourself. To tell the universe that you are ready, not that you are incredibly vulnerable. Striking you down would be incredibly easy, and what good would that do? You spent two years crying, only to die by the hands of the same person who killed your mother?"

Giegue slowly began to listen to Genuine, more and more. He realized that this stuff was beginning to make sense.

"I... Guess..."

"This man, George. You hated him ever since he stepped on Gaerin. And he annoyed you, and annoyed you. I remember times when you kept snapping at him, until he just left the Holy Throne and lived in his house on the far reaches of town..."

Giegue began to think of George. Everything that Genuine was telling him was true. He despised the man. He wanted him to die a horrible, suffering death. He wanted him to die the same way that Maria did, and yet, in so many different ways...

"He has brought nothing but sadness to you, and he then killed your _mother_? I'm surprised you haven't shown a bit of anger since she died. That's not good, bottling up your emotions... You need to release them."

There was a long pause, while Giegue thought.

"So, what do you say? How about we turn you into one hell of a fighter? I know you have the power, your father was a great warrior."

"... When do we begin?"

During the period when the Beacon Shuttle was being designed, Genuine was able to insert a training facility for the Gaerin army when a problem like a galactic war broke out. Now, after thinking about it, it was a very good idea to put it in.

Over the four years that Giegue and Genuine had begun training, they had grown a strong bond. They trained and trained and trained, and frequently fought to test each others mettle. Giegue thought of Genuine as being a lost father, and allowed him into his life. They lived together, on the space ship, allowing it to bob up and down around the universe, until fate brought them to a new life on another world.

Or maybe, they would stay up in space, living in their little wonderful world.

Giegue had changed drastically: He quickly dropped the depressed act and began to get into the fighting (which just added proof to the theory that Giegue always wanted to be a strong person, instead of an insecure man).

For the first time in his life, Giegue felt that he didn't have to act a certain way, or try to impress anybody. He didn't want to be a cute little kid forever, he wanted to be a strong man, able to defend himself, as well as others. He could act normally around Genuine, and act normally with his self. He felt so free, so unbelievably _good_.

His disease, nycoloptyte, had mysteriously vanished shortly after he had gone aboard the ship. Genuine feared for his safety, worrying that at any minute, he would instantly fall dead.

... But, it never happened. The eerily clean ship had nothing that could harm the child, leaving him perfectly safe.

Of course, maybe his nycoloptyte didn't disappear... Maybe nothing has affected it yet...

Every day, every waking moment, Giegue was making himself stronger, smarter, and better in the twelve different styles of fighting Genuine taught him, about five of which involved the use of weaponry. His most favoured style was named Asche Zu Asche, an incredibly advanced method of sword-fighting. It involved the use of two swords, and was mainly directed at the Gaerins, because to become a truly powerful Asche Zu Asche fighter, you must have the use of a tail. Usually, A one-handed blade was held in the hands, and the tail of a Gaerin had a long, sword-like metallic attachment added to it with soldering kits. On rare occasions, the Asche Zu Asche fighter may hold two swords, but the extra hand was helpful in getting around on different types of terrain.

The sword-tail came in handy as well, allowing the wearer to use it like a -word- to swing themselves up a side of a cliff, or to stop them from falling their doom.

All the amazing techniques that could be accomplished in the Asche Zu Asche fighting style were mind-blowing to Giegue, who eventually took the final step, and got a sword attachment for his tail. It was excruciatingly painful, as it was attached while the sword was red-hot, and was then melded around the tail. However, Giegue was a strong young man, as was able to survive through the pain.

He couldn't stop himself. He had to practice. Find every way to win in any situation. Find a way to get out of any situation you could ever think of...

The thought of killing George seemed to really boost his skills. It was like a drug. Every time he thought of the cold smirk on that sick mans face, he went into overdrive, wearing himself out, his body aching the next day.

But it was worth it, for him. Genuine started to get worried. George was supposed to be the fuel, so to speak, but now it was looking like it was getting out of hand, and it was just adding itself to the fire that was Giegue.

On an ordinary day, while he laid down and watched Giegue rip one of the many stuffed dummies into shreds, Genuine started to wonder how smart it was to push Giegue so hard on this one man.

But then he shut his eyes, and let sleep take over his weary body.

The day – or was it night? - was just like any of the other 329 that showed up before it. EVE was piloting the ship, George found strange ways to amuse himself (which usually ended up in sleeping), and the ship itself crawled ever closer to the edge of the Milky Way.

The most memorable moments aboard this ship were the ones following the take off, where George hid the Book of PSI in a vault that he found under his cot in the bed room, day 68, when they found out that some of the bread had become moldy, day 128, when George managed to break the bottom of the metal support for the cot, which then allowed him to sleep on the floor, and day 295, when they found out that the yellow liquid George had been digesting was a crude form of Gaerin hand soap.

Most days past with EVE driving, George walking around, slowly going insane, until the night, when EVE drove, and George slept, his dreams usually ending up with him going mad. Not much to do, not much to do... Anybody would go insane.

But when the little, lopsided, blue-green rock gradually made it into their sights, EVE quickly motioned George to the cockpit.

"GEORGE." came EVE's voice over the radio. "EARTH IS IN SIGHT. APPROXIMATELY 330 DAYS, OR 7924 HOURS SINCE LIFT OFF. PLEASE COME TO THE COCKPIT, GEORGE."

George was still half-asleep, but that didn't stop him from nearly breaking open his head while stumbling through the ship to the cockpit.

Although the sleep in his eyes blurred his vision, he could still make out Earth.

Earth. His planet, his life, his history...

His home.

A wide grinned spread across his face, and while he dashed to his room to gather the book among other things, EVE spoke through the intercom.

"SIR, WE ARE NOW EARTH BOUND."

Chapter Eight

We Are Now Earth Bound

The planet began to eat up the view from the space ship, as everything began to take form and have significance as it became more visible the closer they got. This was a very well-designed ship, seeing as how it had little to no trouble braking the atmosphere, and survived minor damage (alond with it's crew) when it crash landed but a few hundred feet from the termite-infested shack that George once called home.

As the shattered door of the ship creaked open and hastily fell off its hinges, George fell to the ground, with Maria crawling along towards the rotting pile of wood.

George dusted himself off, grabbed the book at his feet, and slowly started towards his house, taking in every sensation, every welcomed feeling of home.

The grass was a dull green, with small splotches of a light brown sprinkled around it. It looked like something had crossed this way earlier that day, because indentations were visible. A small patch of flowers was growing near the house. Somehow, they were growing. There was a very low chance that somebody waltzed by, planted seeds, watered them, and watched them grow right by somebody's property. But that would explain the depressions in the grass. Kind of.

George pushed open the door to the house. It fell off, as well. He then realized that he felt much heavier here on Earth than on Gaerin.

A sour smell instantly filled George's nostrils. It smelled like old cat, and the whole house seemed full of it. He whipped out the book and looked at it once more.

_The Book of PSI_

_Compiled by the Intergalactic Bureau of Nazareth_

_Circa 3483, E.X._

There was a speck of paint on the book. He dusted it away.

"Alright, EVE... We're home."

The depressing shack of a house was basically split into three parts – the main floor, which stank heavily of cat pee, the attic, crawling with who knows what, and the basement, quite possible the only safe and organized place in the house. Father time sure skipped the basement during his annual check.

The basement was a concrete cube, small cracks slipping in and out of the walls. Plants were slowly crawling up through them, giving the place an almost Atlantis-like feel.

George tried the light switch. Miraculously, the light buzzed, flickered, and stayed on.

Thank god for technology.

In a corner was a desk with a candle on it, half-melted. Inside the crumbling cabinet were several other candles at his disposal. Deciding that it would be best to start reading up on the PSI rather than getting a headache from the dominating smell of cat from upstairs, he hit the books.

EVE parked herself in one of the crumbling corners, and turned herself into standby mode, awaiting orders from George, but also getting a bit of rest.

And so every day from this moment went on like this – EVE would mainly be powered down, George huddled over the book, reading it's many fascinating entries. They dined on Gaerin hand soap and plants that looked rather edible.

Life went on this way for days. For weeks. For months. George may have been home, on Earth, with his old friends, family, and neighbors, but he would be marked in the history books as 'mysteriously disappearing on December 8th, 1908, sometime after noon.'

The lights flickered silently in the training facility. Giegue wondered exactly how this monster of a ship managed to be powered for such a long time.

"Genuine?"

Genuine was sprawled out on one of the plain white resting benches, snoring softly.

"Nnngh... Wha?" Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he replied, "What? What is it, Giegue?"

"What exactly is it that were are doing up here?"

"... We're training. Training so that you can become a stronger person."

"No, no, not that... Why are we up here, just dangling in space? Why have we cooped ourselves up here? How come we haven't been searching for a new planet to settle on?"

Genuine sighed. He was obviously ticked off for being rudely awakened and then asked a bunch of questions.

"Well, Giegue," he replied in his sleepy stupor, "Where exactly do you want to go? There's tons of planets out there supporting life. Just go ahead and choose one, and we'll land there."

There was an obvious tone of sarcasm in his voice, but Giegue chose to ignore it.

"I've had my eye on one particular planet... Ever heard of the Milky Way?"

Two towns over, two different couples were celebrating their one year anniversary. Henry Franklin and Siobhan Witherbee, and John Newmyre and Annelies Ross. Both couples shared a unique type of love, a love that could never be broken by time. It would remain, forever.

Both couples had been seriously thinking about having children. They tried and tried, hoping again and again for some sort of sign...

But it never came.

Their souls thoroughly crushed into the ground, they were thinking of trying different methods, when all of a sudden...

Forty-five minutes into the appointment at the clinic, Annelies Newmyre was given the wonderful news that she was indeed pregnant, and that they should expect a new baby girl within nine months.

Siobhan Franklin had received the same news just days before – a baby boy was on its way within the next twelve months.

What exact purpose did these events hold?

Quite possibly one of the greatest showdowns in the history of Earth.

But that moment would not be in movement for another 62 years...

Not in the foreseeable future, for sure.

And not in the next chapters,

Chapter Nine

Life After The Prologue

and

Chapter Ten

The Big Bang Glitch

... Or would it?


	7. Part Six

Chapter Nine

Life After The Prologue

Life had become hectic in the intimidating confines of George's basement.

Well, actually, that's not true. Life had become hectic _outside_ of the intimidating confines of George's basement. Although it had not become apparent to George, the powers of the world began to spark. They were disagreeing with each other, creating feuds. War was being hinted at here.

As each day brought ruckus from above, George grew less and less tolerable. Bombs, shooting, screaming, shouting... It was very distracting, not to mention quite rude.

So George began to contemplate leaving behind his old shell of a life once more, and pursue a place on Earth that would cry out the utterly wonderful words of peace.

He realized, however, that it would most likely be a long, harrowing trek that would not be worth it. Besides, he had gained some valuable powers from this grand tome. He didn't know exactly how it worked, but all he knew was that the instructions that the book was giving him were working fairly well, so far.

He had strayed clear of the darker parts of the book, knowing full well from old mystery novels the iron grasp of power has over the mind. Of course, he would hopefully thumb through it one day, seeing the actual capabilities that the Gaerins and himself _could _posses.

Slowly, step by step, inch by inch, George began to grasp the power of PSI. He learned how to heal cuts (he tried this on himself after inflicting wounds upon himself, leaving with quite a few nasty cuts after failed attempts ), regain energy from lack of sleep (quite helpful for his studying), and even how to bring dead organisms back to life (this was immensely complicated, and he could only really do it on weeds and small insects).

There wasn't much else to study. His first intentions after obtaining this book was to try to benefit mankind and stray clear from any battles, but after skimming through the hundreds of pages about the 'white' powers of PSI, he could find no immense power to bring peace to a planet.

Well, it was worth a shot.

So, after closing the book for the first time in weeks, George lay back on his chair, balancing on the back legs.

A muffled whistling sound erupted from some unknown locating above ground, rapidly increasing in intensity, but at the same time, decreasing in pitch. He put the front feet of the chair back on the ground. He stayed still, quiet. He hesitated to grab the book, clutching it to his chest.

The whistling stopped, leaving a slight ringing in George's ears. He waited. And then it hit.

An intense explosive rush of fire and debris engulfed the town square of the small, rural American town that George resided in. It burned buildings, seared skin off of the people doing their daily tasks, it incinerated the peaceful birds in the tree, who were once happily chirping their song.

It managed to violently rock the foundations of George's dangerously unstable Popsicle-stick house, throwing debris and horribly burned corpses of unknown men, woman, and children, slowly tearing away at the vulnerable, splintering wood that made up the house.

Slowly, inch by inch, splinter by splinter, log by log, the house began to collapse in on itself, heading towards the only spot able to hold the oncoming pile of wreckage – the basement.

Slightly dazed from knocking his head onto the concrete floor once his chair gave weigh, he managed to stumble to the stairs, book in hand, and ushered EVE to follow.

"EVE... EVE, c'mon... We gotta go... We're gonna die..." He managed to spew forth these words, his forehead heating up, becoming disoriented.

After but a few seconds, EVE exited from her automatic stand-by mode and strolled her way to her master in a few gigantic strides, ready to protect George from any falling debris.

They crawled up the stairs, the house swaying to and fro, ready to collapse at any moment. Mold, dust, and the ever-impending stench of cat managed to fly up into the air, adding to the confusion of snapping logs and crumbling walls.

Dammit, thought George to himself, _Why did we ever build a _spiraling_ staircase?_

Finally, They made it to the main floor, after a rather anti-climatic flight of stairs behind them. George grabbed onto the front door, and pushed it open.

And with that 167 pound man pushing to one side of the collapsing building, the weak foundation began to fall in a different direction.

George caught a fleeting memory of Maria handing him an exquisite rose from her garden with a grand smile before a sharp pain from the back of his skull overtook him, and everything went dark.

The Beacon Shuttle was making great time on it's way to Earth. Twenty days down, a mere thirty to go.

Both Genuine and Giegue had nothing to do but train, grow stronger, more strategic, and more quick-thinking. Neither really knew where this strength that they held would come in handy, besides holding up a bank or becoming a wrestler. Two careers that neither of them had the mind to take up.

Giegue felt like a new person. Muscular, helpful, and incredibly intelligent fit him much better than a weeping little weakling who survived on others to live. He had devoted his life to training, becoming stronger, becoming a greater person – for that day that he must return home, to Gaerin, and do his planet proud. Then _they_ would be the major power in the galaxy!

There were many books on board the massive ship, mainly to be used by Genuine, but Giegue had begun to read up on many things – history, leaders, Earth... But the most important thing that he had been trying to figure out was PSI.

Of course, the single most in-depth book on PSI had been stolen by the Earth-man, and only small scraps of information were tucked away in various books. A few of these books were located upon the ship.

"No, no, no... There's nothing in these books!" He shouted to nobody, pushing aside the book in front of him. He turned to the side and took a deep sigh.

"Why won't Genuine tell me _anything_ about this power? Every one of us has it, so why won't he tell me the true power behind it?"

He sighed once more, rubbed his forehead, and turned off the lamp. He decided to have another talk with Genuine.

Genuine was lying down in his quarters, supposedly counting the dots on the ceiling when Giegue entered.

"Genuine... _Please_."

Genuine got up and turned to face Giegue, blinking.

"Please what?"

"PSI. Tell me about PSI. Now."

"Giegue, no. I've told you, I-"

Giegue sat down on the cot opposite him, his face stern.

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me. Nothing can be that bad... I mean, George stealing that book caused a ruckus, but could it really be that _bad_?"

There was a long pause in which a small fleet of ships were visible from the round window inside of the room.

"Giegue, do you know _why_ that book was hidden so well?"

"I could guess."

"Giegue, that book was created by naïve people who _murdered_ themselves after creating it. It was just one part of an incredibly large book consisting of millions of billions of pages of everything in the universe. They didn't commit suicide _just_ because of this one section, but there's a very good chance that the group of people who worked on this part were seriously considering it before it was even completed.

"That book could make or break an entire solar system, depending on who had it. Our great King Marthos was one of only two Gaerins who ever uttered a _word_ from inside that book... And, thanks to him, we have much more powerful energies flowing around the entire _world_. Which, you must know, is a rather _good_ thing."

"Yeah, I know. I'm not an idiot. Get on with it."

"So, George... We both have experienced living with him. Fortunately, he's not as intelligent as us Gaerins, so theres a very low possibility that he will even be able to make sense of any of the PSI that lies within. Unless..."

"... Unless, what?"

"Hmm. Well, you're too young to know about this, but we've had disturbances in the past with aliens coming and going, leaving with some of the PSI that flows through our planet. This isn't terribly bad, seeing as how they've all done it for their own benefit, such as possibly curing a minor disease or something.

However, PSI is not something that can just be extracted from a rock face. It is an intangible gift given to us Gaerins, and it races throughout our planet. It recharges us, it teaches us, it keeps us alive.

Now, an alien could hop onto our planet, and gain the power of PSI. But, not knowing exactly how to use it, it would quickly course through the aliens body, and finding no source of compatable energies within, leaves.

George and Maria, on the other hand... They've been on our planet for ten years. Although it is very unlikely, the body and the PSI could react to each other after so many encounters... And it could create another entity within the body, an entity to store the PSI. It'd be like having a bag for assorted items that you yourself couldn't carry without dropping every few seconds.

Although the PSI would remain inside his body, that doesn't mean that he knows any way how to use it. The PSI cannot react to the body itself unless forced to. If the PSI tried to interact with the body, it would be reduced to nothing by the time it tried to do so.

George has control over the Book of PSI. That is a very dangerous tool, and we have no idea how George would go around using it. If we're lucky, the PSI stored inside of his body won't be strong enough to be used in whatever he has planned... But, there's the chance that it is more than enough, and he could wreak havoc across our galaxy."

A short pause followed, wherein Genuine quickly snapped his eyes wide and stood up. For the first time that anybody could remember, Genuine, the retired Sargent of the Gaerin Inter-Galactic Defence Bureau, had made it blatantly clear that he was worried. Worried about something _big._

"Giegue... I just realized something... George could be the one from the letter!"

"... What?"

"Well, it's too long and confusing for me to explain in full, but in short, Lord Gegrion, the philosopher from the 14th century, had written many prophecies... One about an alien being coming to Gaerin and harnessing our mental and physical strength... The strength that cannot be shattered or captured at will... The alien would destroy entire planets, capturing the inhabitants in shackles, making them his slaves... The one in the prophecy would have large, monstrous beasts created with the 'scrap metal of a thousand galaxies'... They would 'shine as bright as the sun, but their hearts would be as black as the sky.'. This has to be George! He's an alien, brought to our planet on the most incomprehensible way, lived with us for ten years, only to leave with our most valued possession and with the burden of the death of his wife on his shoulders... And that robot, EVE... That must be one of the guardians that worked with the alien!

Giegue, this is bigger than I thought. George has full knowledge of the contents of that book. He knows exactly how to use every single power in that book, ranging from the alpha modes to the incredibly complex omega modes...

We have to get to Earth. Now. Who knows how much destruction he caused during the past four years..."

The sun was shining brightly. If one were to look at it directly and not be blinded by the light, they would spot a small, black dot slowly crawling across the blazing yellow-orange ball of fire.

George was travelling due west, after taking a three day long break at Youngtown. Mt. Itoi was his destination.

After he had come to once being struck in the head by a plank of wood from his now-flattened house, he had begun to realize that Mt. Itoi would be the only place left for him in this universe. Nothing could harm him up there. It would be his own universe – safe from the harsh reality back on Earth.

Mt. Itoi would be the spot on the fine line between life and death where all souls would come to rest. The Earth, the Universe, and anything inbetween did not matter on top of this mountain that kissed the heavens.

George would be staying at one of life's most important decisions.

George started on a fire. Up on the tip of Mt. Itoi, it was rather chilly, to it became obvious that a fire would be very vital to their survival.

Other than that, it was a pretty nice place to live – there was plenty of small animals roaming the mountain for food, and berries were plentiful. Mushrooms and fungi could be found almost everywhere inside of the mountain, and firewood could be gathered easily.

This mountain was truly God's Home on Earth.

The campfire started with very little effort, and by the looks of it, they were only going to have to use around half of the firewood they thought they would need for the night. The extra they kept in several neat piles to the left of the fireplace, making it easy to access.

They set up a temporary home out of the wood and other utensils gathered around the mountain. It was a rather rocky terrain, so they scoped out the flattest place to put the camp.

George looked over the horizon, at the land sprawled over the cliff edge. Smoke slowly rose out of a very small home twenty kilometres away - it was barely noticeable, but from up on Mt. Itoi, the entire Earth was visible.

He opened up the Book. On the page that he flipped to, large black letters spelled out 'PROLOGUE'. The writing was rather messy, different from the rest of the book. It was like an afterthought. The page wasn't in as good shape as the rest of the book.

He started to read the rest of the page.

'_Warning: The following chapters of this book speak about the horrific and unholy powers that PSI is capable of. It is not recommended that you read this part of the book, because it has been discovered that the information that follows could completely change your view on life. It will twist your sense of reality, it will corrupt your mind, and there is no going back._

_The power described in this section is not exaggerated – if anything, the true destruction of the powers is not fleshed out enough. If mastered correctly, the following skills could rip apart galaxies._

_This is the reason that this book is not intended to fall into the wrong hands. For the sake of our employees and the mission that we have, we have included the information._

_The powers after this prologue will range from the gamma mode to the Omega mode. However – there are a few spells that seem to be incapable of being used. The power mode is unknown, but it seems to be a step higher than the Omega mode. Fortunately, they are the most horrifying powers located in the book, so you are restrained from using them if you do lose control and start on a downward spiral into darkness..._

_Jhen Forgin, Author_

George paused. _So,_ he thought, _This was the power that Genuine spoke of. It really does seem to be as bad as he said it was... Good thing the book is safe with me._

He paused again.

A low rumble was heard throughout the mountain, followed by a weak quake that caused George to drop the book. He hastily picked it up, and clutched it to his chest. He was panting and sweating, his heart beating irregularly.

He slowly pulled the book away from him, only to see that the book had shifted five pages past the prologue he had just read.

'_Mythios Condrium: This is a rather tricky power to use. It requires you to force the power of your PSI into the direct middle of your palm. From there you can aim it almost like a gun at any object, be it a moving or stationary one. Just imagine within your mind the said object catching on fire, drowing, being shaken violently, or even falling asleep._

_This is a Gamma mode power. It is a mind-controlling power, as well as an Illusion power. Not to be used much – you'll most likely be worn out after one or two uses.'_

He shifted uncomfortably, and read on.

The day slowly began to call it quits, and the blazing sun starting its sunset-inducing descent. The birds flew home to their nests, awaiting the next day to gather food for their young. The small rodents that basked in the warm sun during the day slithered back into their burrows to hide from the chilly nights above the mountain face.

The sunset spilled an array of multi-shaded oranges, yellows, and red upon the view below. The forests and the cities lit up like Christmas lights, painting an inspirational piece of scenery that would make the combatants of the World Wars stop in their tracks and give peace a second chance.

Unfortunately, neither of the World Wars had occurred yet.

EVE lay against a large, cold boulder, her yellow triangle eyes now black, indicating that she was currently recharging herself for the next day. A lone dove was perched atop EVE's saucer-like head, scoping the landscape for a good place to start its new life up on Mt. Itoi, just like what EVE and George had done only days earlier.

The campfire raged on with even more intensity now that the sun was gone, in a futile attempt to light up the night sky and lend the sun a helping hand during its next few hours of sleep.

George sat upon a rock near the campfire, still reading the Book. After padding the ground a few times searching for a log to throw on the fire, he grabbed a long, dry log which he lobbed towards the fire. However, he was so engrossed in the Book that he didn't bother aiming and overshot it, the log snapping in two after landing on the ground.

He had already blazed through twelve chapters, not attempting any of the powers thus far, but instead reading up on their horrific details.

The night came as quickly as the sunset. The only way that George could read his book was by hunching over in a rather uncomfortable position so that the fire would illuminate the page. It was enough concentration just trying to keep the book in a position where he could read it, let alone reading and understanding every word within it

Because of this, George had to see the man in front of him before he noticed him.

George scrambled to his feet, suffering a nasty cut on his left hand after being violently shoved onto the jagged mountain clearing.

"So... Out of all the disgusting, putrid alien abominations that exist in the Universe... Another human carries the Book. Fascinating."

The man was short and stout, probably only a little over five feet. He was beginning to bald, and the large, broken goggles that were strapped onto his face looked a bit too tight, making the man look even larger. He had a receding hairline, and yellow crooked teeth. He had a rancid odour surrounding him, almost as though he was stuck in a smelly, sweaty container for a bit too long and he just now got the chance to air himself out.

He barely looked able to lift a desk without having back spasms, causing George to consider what just happened, and how the small man was able to push him over with such force.

Two icy, metallic tentacles coiled around his neck and arms answered his question.

He sputtered, gasping for air, scratching at the tentacles, only to be pulled off his feet and left there to struggle for breath.

The man wheezed out a laugh. "Let 'im go. I don't want him to die... Just yet."

The tentacles eased up, pushing him to the ground. He took in large breaths, his face red. After catching his breath, he looked up at the man, as well as for whatever it was that had assaulted him.

"E... EVE... EVE!"

"Bah, don't bother. We've disposed of your useless robot... Oh, and by the way, that thing was bound to explode any day now. You're pretty bad at that, aren't you? I mean, building robots and all. The damn thing didn't even try to fight. Just sat there. At least you got some interesting equipment from us...

George attempted to get to his feet, only to be pushed back down by the same metallic tentacles.

"... _Us?_"

"Ever visited the Quaox solar system? 'Cause that's the only place that those metals come from... Eh, what was that?"

"There's... Other people with you?"

"What? Oh, yes, sorry about that, where are my manners? 0203, c'mere."

A strange, translucent blur appeared next to the man, which slowly gave form to some strange metallic beast that shone like the sun, with large, metallic tentacles that looked like they could extend and contract. There was absolutely no scuffs and no marks on the being, save for a large black rectangle positioned in the middle of the cylinder that rested upon the things shoulders (at least, it looks like shoulders; and the cylinder could just as easily be the head).

George suddenly came to realize that the man wanted the book, even though he had already stated that long ago. He thrusted himself at the Book, clawing at it until he got a hold of a corner, only to be stopped by the mans foot, causing a loud _snap_ to fall over the mountainside.

George clutched at his hand, letting the Book slip away from his grasp. There was no blood, although a bone was probably fractured or broken.

"Woah, there, don't think you'd get away with that so easily." A smug grin ran across his face, one of his yellowed teeth sticking out.

George tried to forget about the pain, and got to his feet.

"... You aren't taking that book. That belongs to _me,_ and I went through... A lot... to get that. It's mine!"

The man look a little taken aback, but still kept his same unfaltering sense of control.

"Oh, is that so? Well, then, I guess I'll just leave you alone. I don't want any... Fuss... At... All..."

The man began to slow in his speech, seemingly distracted by something more important. George looked at his face. He was staring at something. On the ground? The Book? George risked a quick glance, only to be punished severely.

An unimaginably horrible pain entered his stomach, causing him to grasp it – only to be met by bloody hands. He looked down.

A tentacle from the metallic beast that once stood by the man's side had entered from his backside, shredding through much of the nervous tissue that was gather around the spinal cord and cutting through his stomach, causing blood to gush out from both of the holes. The creatures tentacle was freezing, which cause the spinal cord to shut down, making George slump over and increase the pain of the tentacle.

The ugly man stooped down to meet face-to-face with George, his breath suffocating him.

"Listen, you stupid, redundant boy... Do not tell me what I can and cannot have. You do not control me. Infact," he said, as he straightened up and gesturing to the entire Earth with both his hands, "I will soon control this, and _you._ Or, shall I say, what's left of you."

He let out another laugh, followed by a cough and a hack, causing phlegm to spray onto George's face.

The tentacled beast slowly withdrew itself from George's stomach, letting him fall to the ground.

The only thing George could see now was the Book, only inches from his nose. He tried with all his might to get his bloody hands to move, but the body would not respond. George just lay there, a small pool of saliva gathering near his mouth.

"Ah, I wouldn't want to forget this. Thank you for reminding me, lad. What was your name, again? Oh, what's that? You say you never told me? Oh well, I guess that's lost now."

George heard the man and his robot slowly descend the mountainside, and a few moments later, a loud whirring sound pierced the air. A large, dull green saucer flew past George at an unbelievably low height, causing it to kick up immense amounts of dust and dirt around him.

He was left there to die, no control of his body, bleeding horribly, and now he was to be encased in a tomb of dirt.

The last thing that entered his thoughts was that of Maria's kind, gentle, forgiving face as he began his trek from the Middle of the Universe to meet with his wife once again, in Heaven.

Chapter Ten

The Big Bang Glitch

The air of the planet was much less quality than of that of which Giegue was used to, back on both Gaerin and the Shuttle. He stifled a cough, and began walking.

It was rather chilly, which is where Giegue's large, dark-blue cape made of some rare material came in handy. It was connected by two large golden coins and a gold chain, the marks of 'Destiny' and 'Power' etched out on them in the Gaerin's ancient symbol-like text. Two golden shoulder pads christened both shoulders. He wore brown leather gloves, with slits from his fingers to move about more freely.

He donned spiked metal boots capable of inflicting major damage to whatever they came in contact with at high speeds.

"... I have no love for this place. Let's make this quick and painful, Genuine."

Genuine followed close behind, also wearing rather extraordinary equipment, with only his hands to deal damage.

"Well, Giegue... Do we really have to kill the man? He's gone through enough."

Giegue stopped, and turned sharply. The breeze picked up the end of his cape, kicking it up.

"Genuine, you must be joking. This man... Inflicted horrible damage to our people. He killed my mother. And, as you _yourself_ stated, he is the one in the Letter! If we don't kill him, the Universe is doomed! So, you tell me. Ask him politely for the Book that could _destroy_ the Universe, or use force against him, seeing as how he's most likely going to attack the moment he sees us!"

They stood there, silent, watching each other, their faces set in stone, until Giegue turned sharply once more and began his march towards the tip of Mt. Itoi.

"What a reckless boy you've become... I hope it doesn't come back to haunt you."

He shivered, and followed on.

It is stated in ancient Gaerin lore that there would one day come a foreign creature that would unleash the gateways to Hell upon the Universe, allowing the demonic forces of the darker side of PSI let loose and wreak havoc across it.

This foreign creature would make its way into the Galaxy of the Quaox Solar system, slipping away into the underbelly of Gaerin, the eighth planet from the Sun, and the second from the Twin Suns. This creature would steal the most valuable source of power the Galaxy had ever known, and harness the darkness within for it's own gain.

After receiving the powers of the Devil himself, the creature would mutate into a demi-devil abomination to carry out the deeds of the Devil, destroying planets and galaxies a capturing the inhabitants to be slaves for the Devil. These slaves would be turned into metallic manifestations of the stars in the sky, until each and every last one of the stars burned out and the Universe was plunged into eternal darkness.

However, written within the Letter was the Universes only hope of survival: Two young men brought around to realize their destiny by their father figure.

These children would unite with others who shared their fate of being mentally gifted with the power of PSI. They would stand up against the demi-devil, and combine their power to strike it down on both its first form and it's reincarnation.

However, this Letter is full of holes and it is not known in truth whether these children are in fact able to knock down the power of the demi-demon and it's star-shaped henchmen – it only explains that they hold the power to do so.

Fate is such a cruel mistress, placing the fate of the Universe on children's shoulders... And it is still unknown whether they know how to bring about the full extent of their powers, leaving them to wither away with the rest of the Universe...

... Until the next Big Bang restarts the system and relieves it of the System Crash that the virus inflicted upon the machine.

However, computers are in fact not perfect. They glitch up. They malfunction. They shut down.

But worst of all, viruses can seep through the cracks and attack the new system just like the old one.

Giegue's initial reaction to finding George's body was that of a child. He yelled out profanities and kicked George continuously in the jaw.

"Argh! Who the hell would've killed this idiot! Nobody even knew that he was up here!"

He sat down on a rock next to the campfire. The ashes had been strewn across the terrain after some rather strong winds began to pick up only a day after George's death. The smell of burnt wood still hung in the air slightly, adding to the finality this place held.

Genuine sat down next to Giegue, his calm stature already started to make the confused Gaerin quiet down.

"Well, Giegue... There's always the possibility that EVE killed him. I mean, it was already an unstable robot... I doubt the man could even program proper AI or the difference between an enemy and George himself."

Giegue sighed. He wanted to kill George! He didn't want some useless piece of scrap metal to do it for him... Especially if that scrap metal originated from his very planet.

"... Well, now what are we to do? We went through all this trouble of getting here, Giegue, and now that George is dead, well, there's nothing left for us to do but go back to Gaerin."

"... Didn't we already have this conversation? We're not going back to Gaerin, Genuine. I've thought this through. Although I have a grudge against this pitiful human, that doesn't mean I would come all this way just to finish him off. Besides, humans are weak. In the back of my mind, I always worried that something like nature would finish him off for me... So I made up my own plans."

Genuine didn't like where this was going. However, he kept his face in his normal calm mode, rigid, making sure not to show worry. Children can sense that they can frighten others and will use that to gain control of any situation.

"Let's just head back to the ship. I'm not exactly ready to get started."

They both got up and began their trek back to the ship, striding in unison like shadows.

However, Giegue slowly began to trail behind Genuine, until he was a far ways ahead. He stopped and turned around.

"Alright, you can come out. I know you're here."

Genuine turned to face a rock side covered with dead trees. He popped out his sword and got his sword-tail at the ready, in case this unknown being was hostile.

_Snap._ A noise. Coming not from the trees, but from...

Giegue brought his tail round to his face to see what this being looked like.

He was met with a brown, tattered cloak with a large rip through the middle where his tail had penetrated first before coiling around.

He swerved around. No sign of anything. He quickly threw the cloak to the ground, holding up his sword to ward off any incoming threats.

And then he saw it.

It was barely noticeable – just a ripple in the air. But then it began to take form.

A large, purple, metallic rectangle-shaped object stood before him, with four purple tentacles penetrating its surface (apparently, two were hands, and two were feet). Long, thin spikes trailed down its backside, and a black visor shone in the sun.

The beast moved before Giegue could make any distinction between it and the rest of what he could see – he was taken brutally to the ground. He quickly jumped back to his feet, sword in hand.

He turned around. It had jumped down a cliff edge, only to land a few metres below Giegue.

He soon realized that this wasn't anything to be reckoned with, and with a low snarl, began to race towards it.

The beast, however, was not completely unarmed. Slowly, its gaze turned towards its left tentacle-arm. Slowly the tip broke in two, and a blade snapped out. He turned back to face Giegue, the blade held back, ready for a quick thrust into alien intestines.

But it never came. They clashed swords high in the air, Giegue using his tail to fend off the beasts unused arm.

They broke off, Giegue landing next to a large rock and the beast standing rigid.

Giegue decided it was time to change to different tactics.

He sheathed his sword, his tail still waving around above his head. He snarled and began to rush towards the beast.

It had its blade ready to slash at Giegue as he hurdled over him, but instead Giegue slid quickly between it's legs, his tail breaking through the defenseless metallic backing behind him with ease.

He twisted his tail, causing loud scraping and crackling noises to emanate from the beast. He quickly withdrew and hopped to the side to dodge the blade that was coming at him.

They stood there, Giegue still at the ready, while the thing just stood there, in it's attacking formation, not moving whatsoever. _Good,_ thought Giegue, _I shut him down._

Just then, a loud, low voice supposedly came out of nowhere, but Giegue understood that it was the beast.

_There is no reason for you to fight me. You are just wasting your time. You cannot defeat me._

It took awhile for Giegue to understand that the beast was communicating to him through telepathy.

_I am the last of the StarMen, created by the great Lord trillions of years ago, during the first Big Bang. We reigned control over the many galaxies that we inhabited, making sure that all was in order, and that there were no conflicts that could lead to galactic war. We were given immense strength, although we were a very peaceful race. However, a sick human managed to recreate our species in a demented robotic body._

_The reason I stand before you now is not because I wish to destroy you – it is because I am after the same thing you are. That Book is a very valuable object, and it has now fallen into the wrong hands. If I do not stop it, the Universe – as well as my resurrected race – will be wiped off of the records forever – no restart could fix this._

Giegue completely forgot about the Book. What happened to it? George obviously didn't have it anymore, but...

"Wait a second, do you know where the Book is?"

The thing took a moment to process these words, possibly translating it into whatever language it spoke and then creating an answer in Giegue's dialect.

_Yes, I do. The human who took the Book is headed southwest – to the ends of our galaxy. Apparently he has established an underground base where he's building those... Replicas. I am off to stop that man, and make sure the book never disappears from my sight again. You poor mortals... I pity you. If it weren't for my Big Bang Jumping, you'd all have blown up our Universe._

And with that, it slowly began to shake the Earth, blasting off like a rocket with all the grace of a stab-wound victim into the darkening sky. Giegue was left there with his sword drawn, ready to strike after the beast began to move once more. He was now confused at what exactly had happened, and was still skeptical about this... StarMan.

Snow began to fall on the mountain, and the temperature decreased. Giegue slowly sheathed his sword, still waiting for a surprise attack, which never came. He drew his cape around him, and made his way back to his ship, still uncertain of what exactly his next movements should be. To follow the strange StarMan, to return to Gaerin, to stay here on Earth, or to sail the seas of the Cosmos for the rest of his life?

On one hand, he may be able to stop the man and regain the Book to use the powers himself, or he could return home, and pretend nothing happened... If he stayed on Earth, he could probably still exact revenge on George's relatives, or perhaps just cause a lot of pain and suffering... Those damnable humans deserve it, anyways.

_Things are moving too fast. I just wish things would just... Slow down. At least a bit._

He sighed and began to trudge through the newly-fallen snow to the Shuttle, where Genuine awaited him.


	8. Part Seven

Chapter Eleven

Final Preparations

The ground was unlike anything Giegue had ever felt in his short lifetime. It was almost soft, like sand, but it would not allow him to slide through it, almost like hard dirt. It made for some troubling attempts to balance himself, and he did in fact fall on his face. Twice.

After dusting himself off, he surveyed the surroundings. It was... Rather bleak. Just like back on Mt. Ito. A few dead trees here and there, some collapsed buildings... Debris everywhere... Now that he thought about it, it actually wasn't like Mt. Ito. Maybe a bit, but...

Giegue slowly tread around the strange planet, looking for any sort of life, whatsoever. A piece of paper flew by, and Giegue was able to get a good enough look to see a picture of a young, human child. Maybe a 'Missing' poster?

Giegue began to examine the planet more thoroughly. Definitely no life... But those destroyed buildings. Those charred trees. And... Off in the distance... What is that? Giegue squinted.

And then he gagged.

A large mound of what he thought to be garbage turned out to be dead, rotting, corpses. Some were horribly charred, others were just skeletons, mainly with broken bones. Puncture holes littered the bodies, creating a rather horrifying picture. As thought just seeing the charred _bodies_ was enough.

The smell was overwhelming. The sight was traumatizing. He lost his balance and threw up on a trunk of a charred tree.

He stood back up, wiping his mouth. He had a hunch that this place would probably be a bit beaten up, but not completely torn down and pillaged...

Genuine came over to Giegue, and saw the body pile. He quickly turned away, also disgusted by the site.

Genuine held out his hand for Giegue. "That thing stinks like the devil... Imagine how much worse it'd be if we were any closer."

Giegue replied, grabbing Genuineness's hand and hoisted himself up. "Please... Don't make me think of that thing. My body already rejected the thought. Ugh."

Genuine hastily wiped off his hand, as it was coated in a small amount of vomit.

"Right, well... Giegue, what are we to do?"

"I don't know... I seriously don't. Do we even have the right planet?"

Genuine looked over the horizon, in the opposite direction of the pile. "I don't know how a man could survive here. Are you sure that Star Man was taking about this planet?"

"Positive... Well, where could he be?"

As they walked on, they saw nothing but the bleak sight of death, destruction, and despair.

The air was getting thicker. It was harder for the two Gaerins to see where they were going, but they trudged on.

The stench of corpses filled their nostrils, causing their eyes to water, but they kept going, not speaking a word. They were here for the Book, nothing else.

As they were walking, Giegue caught a glimpse of an older, Gaerin woman, wearing extravagant clothing and a golden crown in his mind. He began to look back on his life, and how it has treated him.

What exactly was he working towards? He was born, his mother died, an alien adopted him, the alien's wife killed his adopted mother, he was thrown out into space, trained himself in the way of Asche zoo Asche, and then, after four years, came across the corpse of the alien who he wanted to kill for so long. Now, he's wandering on distant worlds, looking for some crazy book that can do unmentionable things.

His gaze fell to his feet. His life could be summed up in but a few seconds. What a sad, rushed life he had.

So, what? Now he was just a mercenary going on a quest with a man that he had slowly begun to distrust? Couldn't there be more for him out there than waiting _years_ to kill a lone man? Surely there must be more out there for a being than to let anger and revenge bubble for such a long time.

But what? From the small slice of life that Giegue had been served, he had little to go on to distinguish what was right, what was wrong, and what to do in terms of living life.

His reality had been twisted, making most of his actions seem wrong or unsuitable. Waiting four years to kill George seems like a highly unsuitable thing to do. One could have used those four years to do something more helpful, like maybe return to Gaerin and get the wheels moving back on track.

Oh, did I forget to mention that Gaerin had plummeted into complete and total chaos? Sorry if I did. But that story is for another time.

Genuine choked on the smoggy fumes. "Is it just me, or is this fog getting worse?"

"No, it's not just you... This stuff is toxic."

Genuine, with a slow movement of his left hand, was able to part the fog in front of them like magic. Their airways cleared up, and they could see their surroundings much better.

Giegue most likely would've been crawling with questions about what exactly Genuine did, if it wasn't for the fact that he was pinned to the ground by a bone-crushingly heavy object.

Genuine had caused it to fly away as fast as it had shown up, again using his left hand. Giegue jumped to his feet, unsheathing his sword.

"Damn... Not this again... Genuine! Get out your sword! These things are not a walk in the park!"

The fog had once again encased them in its olive-green fumes, severely limiting the Wateriness potential. They joined up back to back, so that they could defend themselves from both sides. Giegue leaned his tail to the left so as to not jab his partner in the back, and kept his eyes to the right.

Once more a screeching blur appeared, knocking Giegue to the rocky ground once more. The beast did nothing but let out a loud warbling noise, but hastily jumped off of him a few moments after.

Giegue once more jumped to his feet, hastily deciding that it would be best to thrust his sword outwards, hopefully catching the beast with it and ripping it to shreds. His tail was embedded into the ground at an angle, to keep himself rigid for any fast-moving objects hurdling themselves at him.

And then, it hit. Giegue was rocked back and forth, but the thing had managed to fall into his trap, catching itself on his blade. Genuine quickly spun around, and ripped the beast off of the blade again with his hands, throwing it over and over into the ground, the sound of scraping metal piercing their ears.

Finally, he threw the piece of scrap metal into the unknown territories that lay beyond the fog, making their was due west, towards safety.

Hopefully.

The bottle broke into a million pieces on the catwalk. The beer began to drip through the holes, causing a sound not unlike rain to emanate through the cold, metallic halls.

However, the sobbing was muffling the droplets.

The man twirled around in a highly drunken manner, laughing, crying, and dancing all at the same time.

He hadn't shaved in days, his ragged, curly beard containing pieces of food from days before which he was too sloppy to clean up. Not like the food around here was plentiful.

His goggles contained a single, large crack going from side to side, and his already receding hairline was beginning to age, his hair a mixture of both black and trey.

His yellow teeth had now began to fall out and his gums were very sensitive, causing them to draw blood at the slightest impact with anything.

He wore smelly clothing from months ago, and he had a horrible stench, almost as bad as the stench of the rotting pile of corpses.

But none of that mattered to him now. Nothing mattered. Not even his own life or personal safety. Out of depression he decided to begin to swill down his large stash of varying beer. Nothing was left for him now, nothing but the slow death that would follow the oncoming alcohol poisoning.

His fabled creations of amazing technical prowess had left him. They destroyed his entire planet. They burned his cities, killed his people, and left him to die.

He didn't want them to go off like that! An elite army of fine-tuned galactic warriors at his disposal... But now they were gone, off to wreak havoc among the Universe.

He would probably have given a damn had he not instantly given up and gone into eternal inebriation.

He waltzed and swayed across the catwalk, yelling out harsh tunes.

He tripped and fell onto his stomach, and began to sob louder. He rolled over, his vision blurred by the tears.

At that moment, a voice entered his thoughts, causing him to jump up and hit his head on the railing. Rubbing his head, he made sure not to hit it again.

Looking around, he saw nothing but the dark, trey walls going on as far as the eye could see. Puzzled, he grabbed onto the railing and hoisted himself up, using it to support his weight. He then realized that maybe he should _listen _to the voice.

_...And although you were just a pitiful, weak human without any proper restraints, you were able to create incredibly devious mechanic fighting machines. They have even destroyed your own planet, and now they're off to destroy others... As a peace-keeper it is the law to get rid of any people who violate our rules. You crossed the line, and then some._

At that moment, a large, purple block-like slab of metal crashed into the catwalk, causing it to sway slightly. The man was thrown to the ground by the rocking, and began to quickly crawl backwards.

"Oh god... I thought you guys were dead! Yeah, you ain't supposed to be alive no more! What gives!"

_Oh, believe me. We are definitely not dead. And we're here to get rid of you and your horrible creations._

The man's scrambling across the catwalk was futile, for the robot could easily block him from whatever direction he was headed in. Sobbing loudly, he gave up and rested his head on the metal floor.

"Dammit, I didn't mean for this to happen..."

_Yes, but you still meant for the Universe to be thrown into peril. And that's why we must eliminate you._

The man rolled onto his back, tears streaming down his face, and a faint imprint of the criss-cross pattern on the catwalk.

The beast then grabbed the man by his shirt and ripped him off the ground. He brought them face to face, and began to talk once more.

_Listen. I don't know how you managed to build those things, I don't care. All I know is that you have made a mockery of the stamen and we will not stop until that unholy army is defeated. I could bring you back with me and left you suffer a horrible death, but I'm a tad on the impatient side at the moment._

"Aha. Aren't you guys supposed to, knower's, be peace keepers? You can't just torture me."

_Oh yeah? Watch me._

At that moment, the beast threw the man into the air, and grabbed him by the face with his other hand. There were six metal clamps running across his head, and all he could see was a long, hard jagged blade inching towards his face.

_This trinket will extract all the data from your head, so that you're not a complete waste. Hopefully we'll learn how you managed to cause so much trouble... Oh, by the way, I never got your name._

The man nearly missed what the beast was saying, seeing as how he was already preoccupied with this spinning blade and the pain in his neck from being jerked around in the air.

"Hey, who-what? My... Name? Ah, aha. My name is Maelkin, the Overlord of the StarMen. My creations may have abandoned me, but at least they'll carry out my task! It'll take a lot from you guys to take them down! Don't forget that!"

The beast had enough of his smug, drunken attitude.

_Well, Maelkin, hello... And, goodbye!_

And with that, the blade ripped through Maelkin's skull with great ease, spinning around in the back of his head. The beast would give anything to see the expression on his face as his brains were being chopped up into mashed up meat.

The mans screams of pain and terror were horrifying – but the beast did not care. He was sent to save the Universe, at any cost. Even if it means ripping out a mans' brains while he was still alive.

And then it was over. The lifeless body dangled in the beasts hand, blood dripping down through the floor. It released it's claw-like fingers, letting the body fall and slip through the side of the catwalk, landing with a sickening crack.

The beast felt no remorse, no sympathy. It was sent to save the Universe, by any means necessary. It was built solely for that purpose – and it would not fail.

It jumped down to the main floor, and made it's way calmly towards Maelkin's lone, steel desk at the end of the long hallway. A single light was held above it, showing that it had nothing to hide.

He cracked it open with ease, snatching the Book. But, before be began to leave, he saw something else pop out – a rolled-up piece of paper. It rolled its way down the steps from the desk and bounced off the Beast's leg. It picked it up, unrolled it, and looked at what Maelkin had been doing all this time.

For the first time in it's life, the Beast began to feel weak.

_Blueprints? For the StarMen? But... I thought that we were brought into the Universe by our Lord – and his ingenious... Why would He need blueprints?_

Just then, the doors opened with a loud bang, and both Giegue and Genuine jumped into the hallway, blocking the Beast from escaping. They were both heaving heavily, and had many cuts and bruises. They were also quite muddy.

"You! Put down that Book!" Yelled Genuine, holding his blade at the ready.

The Beast opened up a small compartment in it's chest and hid the Book, casting away the Blueprints.

_I am not here to hurt the innocent. State your reason for wanting to have this Book of PSI._

"God damnit, you piece of scrap metal, hand over our damn book and we promise we won't turn you into a toaster!"

_Hostility detected. You will not get hold of this Book. I am here to stop those who will use this Book to harm those that are innocent._

And with that, it began to rush towards them, wielding nothing but it's bare, blunt arms.

Genuine blocked the Beast with his only blade, kicking away his arm and thrusting it towards the Beast's chest, only to be met with a bat-like arm upside the head.

Scrambling back up, he realized that this thing was much harder than the robots they faced outside.

"You... Can teleport?"

_No, I cannot. However, I as do you, wield the power of PSI. And, as you also know, PSI is a very mysterious power that has no boundaries... Such does my distaste for those who wish to cause harm to the Universe. My Lord would not be pleased, and neither would my comrades._

Neither of the Gaerin's knew of the Lord that this Beast spoke of... And what was that about there being _more_ of his kind?

"Wait... So, you mean to tell me that there's _more_ of you?"

_Yes. Seven others, to be exact. Eight in total. Our Lord is not exactly pleased with us, either. This Book was stolen from it's resting place. We were supposed to make sure it did not go anywhere... And we failed. But now I have the Book, and I will return it. Of course, you gentlemen may surrender instead of being destroyed..._

"Ha, we've done nothing wrong!" Said the brave Gaerin child. "Besides, that Book belongs to us and we're not going anywhere until we get it!"

_Fine. If that is how you want it, I will annihilate you without mercy._

Chapter Twelve

The Sound Stone

They came like comets.

Swift, silent comets in the daytime.

They were on a projected path, each one of them set to burrow into the Earth until the One rose up and went on the trek to discover their powers. They would grant the One immense amounts of strength to rise up and destroy the one told in the Prophecy. For that Prophecy was not just for the small planet of Gaerin – it was for the entire Universe. The greatest minds knew of this peril, and went the notification that the One to rise and stop them would be born on the planet Earth, the Lord of the StarMen sent out his Eight warriors to allow the One the strength to rise up against the evil that would attempt to destroy the Universe.

However, it is known that one of the eight StarMen Warriors is disobedient... Does this mean that the other seven could also malfunction, and start to wreak havoc upon the Universe? Maybe the Lord had in fact planned this out. He has the power, and the warriors, so he would be a likely suspect...

Only time will tell.

On the morning of October 16th, 1942, the Franklins gave birth to their son, Marlon Franklin.

On the other side of town, another couple gave birth to a girl, properly named Elizabeth Newmyre.

These two children would go to school together, fall in love together, and have children together.

They would become the couple that their grandparents were not.

And they would give birth to the One. Not the One spoken in the legends, but the One that would come before the One in the legends... The one to thwart the evil, to thwart the evil that would come before the transformation into a demi-demon.

Hopefully this One would be able to pull it off.

Hopefully.

Giegue managed to trip the beast with his tail, and he sliced through it's back once more, exposing vital wires to be hacked up. Genuine began to sway his hand back and forth, causing the folds of metal to start to rip apart, exposing the innards even more, and letting Giegue slice his blade through.

The beast, of course, was not fazed. It began repairing itself instantly, and then something strange happened.

Once it stood up, it began to... Jiggle. It was not a rock-hard metal beast anymore, it seemed to be made of liquid. It instantly dropped to the floor in a large pile of purple liquid, and it somehow managed to move it's way towards Giegue and Genuine.

Slowly, oh so slowly, it crawled under Giegue's legs, and, still shocked, he had only a second before he realized exactly what was going on. He rolled to the side, but was snatched up by a long coil that had been manifested from the puddle, and was used to wave around in the air.

He started to feel ill, and the blow to the head once he fell to the floor after a swift cut through the coil on Genuine's part did not really help.

Dazed, he managed to get his tail out to jab through the liquid – which obviously did nothing. The beast grew once more, holding onto Giegue's tail, attempting to use it as a sword against it's initial wielder.

Giegue was having a tough time fighting against the beast and his own tail, for he knew trying to struggle is tail out of it's firm grasp would be met with much pain, or possibly cause him to cut off one of his own limbs.

After a few moments of struggling, Giegue was able to shove his sword through the beasts' visor, and during it's momentary loss of vision, kick off it's face (off the hilt of the sword, to be exact), rescue his tail, and slash off the beast's right arm.

Now it was Genuine's turn. Grabbing the sword that had been kicked through it's visor, he was able to pull off a scissor sweeping motion, slicing off both of it's legs.

Like a helpless baby, it lay there on the ground, with only one arm. It attempted to move the arm, to get itself back up, but it moved in a rather clunky manner, falling back to the ground.

Heaving, Genuine passed Giegue his sword, and both made their way towards the robot. Giegue, with his tail, cut open the beasts chest, and pulled out the Book. Grinning, he pocketed it and they began their way back to the Shuttle.

But, of course, no beast that knowledgeable could fall at the hands of mere _Gaerins_.

The beast once more liquefied, and formed into another purple blob on the ground. And, of course, once more, it formed into the large, blocky Star Man from before.

With horrifying speed and accuracy, the beast rammed it's side into Giegue, causing him to fly through the air and smash his frame against one of the metal support beams. Falling to the floor, the Book slid across the ground, and the Beast ran to snatch up his prize.

Before Genuine had even gathered what had just happened, the Beast ripped a hole through the ceiling and was off on his way.

Giegue rubbed his head, gingerly caressing the bruises.

"Damnit... I can't believe he got the Book!"

"Well, what can we do now?" Said Genuine, helping Giegue to his feet. "What was all that he was talking about? His Lord? Seven others of him? We're they trying to fulfill some sort of prophecy?"

"I have no clue, but if that bastard has the Book, there's a good chance that we're all doomed. Especially if there's seven others... We can't even defeat one of them!"

At that moment, fate decided to come knocking.

His head still sore, it took Giegue a while to figure out what exactly had brushed up against his leg.

"...A... Map?"

He picked it up and carefully unrolled it, examining as much as he could.

"...Genuine, doesn't this look familiar?"

Peering over, Genuine noticed that the sketch on the rolled-up parchment shared a haunting resemblance to the robotic monsters that they had to rip apart on their way here.

"Was this... His?" He said, pointing to the newly-fallen corpse of Welkin's on the ground, which they all seem to have mysteriously missed up until now.

"I don't know... But maybe it was that robot. The Star Man. He was saying there was only eight of his kind, maybe he wanted to create more..."

"Well, whatever the case, I'll be sure to hold onto this little beast."

Genuine grabbed an end of the rolled-up parchment.

"... Giegue, don't get any crazy ideas. You saw what happened out there, to this man..."

"Yes, well, it was his own fault. Building robots in an insecure facility on a populated planet? He was asking for trouble. Back on the Shuttle, we have that great little lab on the twenty-second floor. Wasn't it meant for such a thing? I mean, when the Shuttle was to be originally used to transport our army across the galaxy, and there would need to be scientists to keep everything up to date, and even try to develop formulas to enhance our warriors... And to create such things and bio-mechanical limbs for those wounded soldiers. And, if I'm not mistaken, no robot could move with such fluidity as those... Star Men. They must be bio-mechanical creations."

"Well, I guess... But you don't understand, my boy, these creations could kill countless innocent beings! They can't be controlled, they have a mind of their own!"

"Oh, hush, Genuine. I know what I'm doing... This could seriously benefit us and our race! I'm sure Gaerin is in shambles after our leave, these beings could help us re-establish our grip on the Galaxy. Nobody pushes us around..."

"No, but – You know what? I don't care. Take it. Do what you want. I just want you to know that one day, that – and the other Star Men will come and kill you as ruthlessly as this man was. Do you want your innards ripped out while you're still breathing? Then build your army."

There was a long pause, and Giegue ripped the scroll out of Genuine's hand, starting to make his way back onto the cold, dark earth above, and back onto the shuttle, but not before pausing at the door.

"... Listen, if you don't want to be a part of this, fine. But I'll have you know that if that man can build creatures that horrible, I can create monsters that can be controlled."

And with that, the doors closed behind him with an uncomfortably rusty screech.

In his tail Giegue held the shredded corpse of one of the Star Men that Maelkin had built, it's visor dimmed and sparks flying from it's chest. He had brought it to attempt to do an autopsy, to figure out more about these mechanical creatures, to be able to understand them and to create more efficient brands.

And to create a type that could take down those bastard alien robots that took the Book.

Inside the dimly-lit laboratory, Giegue had poked around inside the innards of the Star Man, and had finally figured out how such a beast could be brought to life – the technological aspects of this thing were beyond anything he had excepted, which only heightened his lust to be able to create one of the damnable things.

He removed the chip from the large motherboard in the chest cavity. It was small, blue, and seemed to be something not... Usually seen in mechanical creations... The bio-mechanical chip. _This_ is what made these things move so swift and fluently! He carefully placed it on the tray to the left of the table.

At that moment, the familiar sounds of the elevator in use ensued. The doors opened at the laboratory, and Genuine stood there. He was obviously a bit surprised to see that Giegue had an actual Star Man with him, and that he was going to attempt to pull this off as fast as possible.

He kept his face straight, and left to continue upwards, to the sleeping quarters.

Giegue pulled out a long, flexible wire that ran through the left arm, supposedly as a mechanical muscle. It was rather hard to move it, maybe because it had to have the bio-mechanical chip to function properly. He was greatly intruiged by this, still entranced in the being, slowly unraveling the secrets of this beast.

The blueprints, although used as a guide to create these beasts, didn't exactly explain why or what each piece had to do.

He placed the wire onto the tray as well, only to have it crash to the floor by a sudden violent rocking of the ship, closely followed by muffled yelling and a loud screeching sound coming from the elevator shaft, which then turned into a loud bang that shook the ship once more.

Giegue ripped off the white cloak he was wearing and proceeded to the elevator doors.

Unable to get a grip with his fingers, he managed to bang the door open using his tail as a crowbar. Ripping aside the doors, he jumped and crawled along the shaft wall parallel to the laboratory, and clawed his way down, down through the dark, cold shaft.

For a Gaerin youth, Giegue hadn't actually had that bad of a life. Sure, his mother had died, and so had his foster mother, but at least the man who had killed the only mother he had actually known had been stricken down by another man who was also obliterated by a rather explosively strong bio-mechanical robotic organism. He has faced no actual tough, mind-numbingly situations in which he would have to make any incredibly tough descisions.

Nothing where he would have to decide between life and death, friendship and love, power or faith.

But, of course, what is a story without conflict?

Yes, although leading a life full of some hardships, he has had it rather nice. But a being holding such a high title of incredible importance in the future of the entire Universe, I highly doubt that he could not go without many, if not one truly life-threatening descision – be it his own life, or the life of entire galaxies.

With the entrance of the eight Star Men warriors, the one who stole the Book of PSI, and had managed to escape before being ambushed by the mock Star Men that Maelkin built, it seems that quite a story is about to unfold upon Giegue's shoulders.

Maybe this new conflict involving the elevator may have something to do involving the Star Men once more – maybe they attacked the ship? Or perhaps the one in the Letter who controls the Men of the Stars... But even then, does it not seem almost blindingly obvious that perhaps the Lord of the Star Men warriors is the one in the story? He is only held in the highest regard when talked about by the first Star Men warrior Giegue and Genuine met.

So, when will this story begin once more? This recap has been helpful, for sure, but...

What happened?

Chapter Eleven

Shrine of the Elder

At last, Giegue saw it – the only light that protruded into the long, freezing shaft came from the sharp hole in the side which seemed to have only been able to be caused by explosives.

The elevator had come to a rather abrupt stop at the bottom, causing it to flip inside out and spit out large shards of metal that embedded themselves into the shaft.

Being sure not to cut himself on the shards, he carefully and silently dropped to the mess of shrapnel that lay at the bottom. He knew it was futile, but he stilled yelled it out: "Genuine?"

No answer. Obvious. He started digging up the remains of the elevator, kicking them away like a dog, not stopping until he saw any part of Genuine – hopefully a part that was connected to the body.

He got to the bottom. Nothing. He then peered through the small hole that led into the basement – the metal had blocked most of the way. He clawed through, trying to keep the painful scratches from distracting him.

He looked around. Nothing out of the ordinary – except for the gaping hole by the door on the other side of the room that complimented the one located in the elevator shaft. He jumped out of the side, landing roughly on the terrain a few feet below. He stood up and wiped himself off.

Still nothing. What the hell happened here? Where was Genuine? Was he dead? If he is alive where'd he go?

A low, bass-like roar from behind him answered his question.

He swiveled around, only to be met with a large metallic fist to the jaw.

Rubbing his mouth gingerly, he glanced upward. A large grey beast was hanging onto the side of the ship, looking down at Giegue with a lame look on his face. It's stomach region was occupied by a large transparent container, in which Genuine was uncomfortably stored. He was accompanied with a strange gel-like substance, and he seemed to be in a deep sleep.

"Oh, no you don't. I've have enough goddamn sucker punches today, don't think for a second I'm gonna let you get away that easily."

Unsheathing his sword and bringing his tail around, he swiftly jumped up to the side of the ship, shoving his tail deep between the metal plates that made it up. Swinging back and forth on his tail, he rushed his sword into the side, quickly ripping the tail out of the side of the ship and swinging up to balance himself on the blade.

He jumped up, grabbing the sword and pulling it out with his tail, and managed to grab it with his left hand. He was able to rip through the metallic flesh of the strange monster and pin him to the ship's exterior before the monster had any idea that he was coming to stop him.

The monster merely let out a dumb-sounding growl, lazily swinging it's massive free arm at Giegue. He managed to dodge it, hanging on to the side of the ship with both his blades. The monster began to climb once more, making its way to the cockpit.

"... Does this thing even know what it's doing? This ship is massive... It'll never make it by climbing..."

Giegue began to pace himself with the monster, watching carefully, making sure not to get clipped by the common swipe coming from it. Genuine was still captured inside, floating around through the gel.

Finally, after climbing around 200 feet, Giegue was losing his patience and gave a swing at the monster again. He was able to wrap his tail around the monsters foot, and sliced away at the exposed part of his body under the container. It once more let out a loud howl, and a siren began warbling from inside the beast. Genuine was still asleep during this.

The sound was almost too much for Giegue, and he had to try several time to grapple back onto the wall after losing his placing. He looked around, waiting to see some sort of back up, some weapons, something dangerous...

But nothing. Was this just some annoyance that the monsters' programmer designed to ward of idiotic prey? As annoying as it was, Giegue was able to jump onto the monsters back, ready to ward

off any flying blows.

Then, silence. Wind blew along the side of the ship, Giegue's cape dancing in the wind. He was slowly unsheathing his sword to cut loose the container and save Genuine, when a large blast from the monster caused him to rock and plummet towards the ground. He was badly burned and was unable to see, but he knew that he was holding onto something large, hard and cold that would probably crush him even farther into the ground once he landed.

He began to feel it. It was smooth... He rapped his fist on it. It let out a muffled reply.

It was the container.

The being must has sacrificed itself to try to get rid of Giegue... But to make sure that his package was safe.

Giegue opened his eyes. He saw the face of Genuine staring back at him, asleep, almost in a death-like trance.

He turned his head.

Within seconds, he made a formal greeting with familiar earth.

It replied by snapping his neck.

The Universe is a wholly amazing place. The fact that it is near-infinite in it's size is overwhelming, but the possibilities that can happen are even more so. If it is possible for such highly-advanced aliens and robots to exsist long before humans started using computers in their every day lives, then the chance that something as absurd as, oh, let's say millions of Universes co-exsisting within the creations of our Universe – On the planet of Gaerin, for example, it could be entirely possible that the parchment that told of the Book of PSI could have certain strings of planets making up the wear of it – the mold could in fact be portals to one of these Universes.

Impossible? No. Although no planets exist on that parchment, it doesn't mean that it couldn't happen somewhere else.

And it has been pointed out that while there is continuous loss suffered in the Universe, it is remedied with the start of fresh life.

Let us say that a bee is swatted and killed. Now, most people wouldn't mourn the loss of the bee, but there could have been a gigantic civilization of tiny, miniature people on it's back. They named the bee Trion, and called it their home planet. Since the bee itself wasn't an actual planet, there were very little resources for the beings, and they had to use everything they found for as many different uses as possible.

They were deathly afraid of fly swatters, because in their world, fly swatters were the terrorist attacks of our time. And then, when it occurred, no more did their planet exist.

But let's say that the death of the bee triggered something. Something you couldn't find on Earth, not on any planet, not on a person...

But inside of a living being.

Billions of years ago, when the newest version of the Universe was issued into order, a memory wipe occurred. Everything from before was gone forever. The beings and places in version 5.3 were massively different from those in 5.2.

Gravity, for example, was implimented in the newest version. Limbs were used to get around, instead of the ability to hover in the air – which was a lot more clunky than usual.

In version 5.2, however, one being managed to stay strong.

The King of Knord.

The man's identity was unknown to nearly every living being in exsistence, on every planet, in every galaxy, inside each Universe... From destroying a planet that obstructed his view to roughing up a town who did something rather displeasing on some rock hurtling through space, he had complete reign over the Universe.

He knew of the memory wipes. To make sure he wasn't snagged on one, he built an incredibly strong force of Eight star-shaped warriors, called the Star Men Warriors. They were like the stars... Strong, fast, swift, and carried the intelligence... Of a rodent.

That's when he searched for the Book. Of Everything. That is one of the few things that was consistent within each Universe, the Book that told about everything. Unfortunately, in this Universe, the Book was split in millions of parts – Fortunately, though, he managed to track them all down.

Except one. On PSI.

At least he had the rest to fuel his beasts. They would have the power to stay on the System after a memory wipe, almost like hanging in mid-air between the erasing and beginning of new life.

They glitched the system. He managed to do what was almost impossible, and by doing so he glitched the system.

New Universes were created. Strange, new Universes created by something as easy as snapping your fingers.

They appeared in the strangest places too, even in your fingers.

Sometimes in your mind.

They would grow on imagination, fueled by the knowledge and creation that the being had. If it was a drug-induced drunk with a tumor the size of a fist, the inhabitants of the Universe would probably starve to death, with very little advancement in science beyond the ability to blow on their toes to warm themselves up.

However, mature, educated minds could make Universes thrive in every sense. Resources, buildings, technology – everything imaginable in the brain. They could have the most blissful landscapes and the most intricate wars of all time.

So, what kind of Universe could be created by the large Gaerin brain now filling with fluids that was inside of the body that lay limp on an unknown planet?

... One with cities in the sky?

Giegue's life, Genuine's awakening, the answers to the StarMen, and a face-to-face conversation with the King of Knord await in the next installment of this production,

Part Eight.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Twelve

Once Upon a Time

The sun was shining brightly through the dainty curtains. Her eyes twitched, and slowly opened.

She pulled the covers of the bed off herself, yawning and stretching. Her raven black hair was in a terrible mess after having a rather restless night, and her face wasn't the usual beautiful self without her make-up on. She wiped the sleep from her eyes and made her way to the door.

When she jiggled her pale-pink door open, she took quick strides to the washroom, across from her bedroom. She hoped nobody would notice her without her face on. Although at the moment she had other things on her mind.

After a quick shower and after spending around an hour on her face and hair, she was ready to don her light purple dress, its backside trailing a few inches behind her. But, of course, this was no problem – it made her look more refined.

A handful of people greeted her after exiting through the main doors, leaving the bedrooms behind her.

"Good morning! And how was your rest?"

"Oh, it was alright... It took me a while to get to sleep... But this morning I feel like I'm forgetting something... Something important..."

The man who inquired her about her sleep replied.

"Oh, well, I'm sure whatever it was can't be that important. I mean, if it was important, we would have found out about it by now."

"I... Guess..."

A pause ensued. The man knew that she had something important on her mind, and she was really hoping to find... Whatever was lost. He grinned and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, Ma'am. We will find whatever it is. Are you sure you don't know what it is?"

She looked up at him.

"... No, no. I don't know... But I just know something... Important is gone. I'm just afraid that if I don't find it, something bad will happen..."

"Well, we'll look for anything that might be whatever it is."

"Thank you, Reginald. You are a great friend." She grinned right back at the man, and gave him a peck on the cheek before embarking through the large, golden gates at the other end of the wide, pink room.

He touched his cheek gingerly, and watched her walk off.

Giegue's eyes snapped open.

Followed by darkness.

A rank odour hung around him, smelling like body odour and rotten cheese. It was hard to breathe, and a rather distracting dripping noise occurred to his right. The floor was freezing, and he suddenly missed the warmth of clothing.

He felt something hard smash the right side of his face, and was thrown to the ground.

Was it the ground? He couldn't tell.

He tried to stand up and clutch at the wound, but his hands were caught on something. Upon re-examination (with his hands) he found he was hand-cuffed to a rope or a chain.

He swung his tail behind him, attempting to hack off the chains, only to be met by immense pain after having it strike the object.

Yelling loudly, he held his tail in front of his face – hoping to find out what happened to the blade that was fucking _wielded straight into his body_.

A warm liquid trickled down his face, and he came to the conclusion that he had somehow had the blade ripped off, with the rest of his tail mysteriously intact.

After being smashed in the face a second time, his jaw loosening a tooth, he began to think it wasn't smart to do these kind of things while being smacked around by some unknown force.

He was obviously unarmed, being beaten up without any weapon... Dishonourable. Just incredibly, amazing, horrifyingly dishonourable.

A loud, low voice rang out in the metal confines of the room.

"Oh, Giegue, I wouldn't try to find your weapons... You have been disarmed. All you have are your hands... And, well, as you've probably found out, they're preoccupied at the moment.. Heh, heh..."

"Damnit, let me go!" he struggled against the chains, only to have them rub back, causing them to slightly pinch.

"I'm afraid I cannot do that, at the moment. However, if you'll just lie down, we can start..."

What! Start what? They've already mutilated him enough... How is he still alive after breaking his neck?

A swift blow to the cranium sent him reeling, before slipping away into unconciousness.

Genuine awoke with a start.

He didn't quite understand what happened before he woke up, but all he knew was that he was in hostile territory.

He attempted to stand up... Only to fall.

But he didn't hit his head.

He bobbed up and down in some strange liquid, slightly disoriented from the lack of gravity.

And then he realized... Where was the air?

He clawed inside over the transparent container, trying to break through. No luck. The material was three inches thick, and he couldn't break through it.

Almost drowning, he decided to give up and let fate step all over him.

Everything he did in his life... Fighting on the G.A.T.F. To save his planet, becoming a valuable servant to the Holy Throne, raising Giegue from childhood to become a man...

Where _was_ Giegue? He looked around slowly. Nothing but other containers... Which were all empty.

He closed his eyes and said his final goodbyes.

A loud hiss filled Genuine's ears, as though the liquid did not exist, without any muffled noises.

He let in a slight breath.

Air!

He gasped and gurgled, his eyes bulging. It hurt to breathe, it hurt to move, it hurt to do anything.

But it was over...

He could breathe, at least.

He hung there, in the liquid, wondering what exactly his next plan of action should be, after somehow escaping death. He was a trained stealth warrior, his mind always had to be thinking of what to do next, never caught in the moment.

Rusted doors opened to the left of Genuine, and a large figure strolled in, his golden armor nearly blinding the captured Gaerin.

"Genuine... Ah, Genuine, after all these years, we finally get to meet. It's so nice to find you, at last."

Genuine was perplexed. Who was this man? How did he know of him? And most of all, why did he capture him?

Genuine attempted to voice a question, but the liquid stopped him from being able to talk.

"Hush, now. We don't want you wasting your breath on little old me... Just you listen. Alright?"

Under the shining helmet Genuine thought he saw a hideous grin etch across his face.

"But, not in this place." He looked around the room, waving his arm here and there. "it is much too disorderly. We need a... Quiet place, that we can talk... Alone. I don't want my valuable guest to be in any sort of discomfort, do I?"

He pressed a button on the side of his helmet, and muttered something that Genuine was unable to decipher. It was most likely in some different language.

The man looked at Genuine again.

"Listen... You are a menace. At least, you will be. I've gone out of my way to find you and capture you so that you'll never escape and ruin my plans. In return, I'm kind enough to offer you a place to sleep, food, water, and a job. Don't cross with me, or I'll have you killed. I am a merciful God, yes, but that doesn't mean I won't stop those that dare get in my way."

He looked over to Genuine's right, and pressed a button on the top of the container. The contents were spilled across the dark, damp floor.

"Where the hell is Giegue?" Genuine choked, attempting to stand up while still on the slippery goo.

"Oh, the other one? He's quite the fighter... Had to... Er, ah... 'De-claw' him." He grinned, offering a hand to Genuine. He declined, slowly gaining balance.

"De-claw...? What did you do to him?"

"Well, let's just say that tail of his won't be causing _me_ any more trouble."

Genuine winced. He could only imagine what kind of pain Giegue must have gone through...

"I don't know who you are, but don't expect us to just sit by while you torture us to death!"

Giegue's right fist flew through the air to knock some sense into the King's head, but was stopped by the King's own right hand.

"I could _end_ you whenever I wanted. Do _not_ get on my bad side."

He continued to slowly crush Genuine's fist beneath his golden gauntlets, a few sounding cracks coming from them. He threw his fist from his hand, causing Genuine to follow and fall to the ground. He gripped his hand, heaving in pain.

"Don't cross me, again. You get two strikes. If you keep going on this pattern, you'll be food for our servants by the end of the day."

And with that, he exited the room, the door silently sliding behind him, leaving Genuine in the dark A pipe hissed from a corner.

A large, burly, StarMan worker descended through the maze-like structure of the Catalyst. He was the robot in charge of maintaining the thrust engine temperature. It was as boring as it sounded. He was on his break, which was usually spent looking over numbers, such as the temperature itself, oil amounts, and other stock numbers.

Although being a robot, solely built and designed to carry out specific tasks, he couldn't help but feel bogged down with work, having no time to socialize with other robots aboard the ship.

He especially wasn't going to enjoy this break, because he had some rather discerning information to tell the King.

And the King wasn't a very nice man. Even though the StarMan could not feel pain, he couldn't help but shudder as he was slowly disabled, until his main circuit board was hacked into confetti.

You see, during the period where the King and his star fleets captured the two Gaerins and then proceeded with blowing up the festering planet that they were picked up on, nobody was able to factor in the weight gained, not only from the passengers (now really, would that add a whole lot of weight to a space ship with multiple hangars?), but from the fighter shuttles and everything, it started to put a strain on their limited fuel containers, coming to the conclusion that they would probably drift the last hundred thousand miles to their home planet, and then burn up and die in a horrifyingly apocalyptic fire.

_Hoo boy_, he thought, _this sure is gonna be a doozy of a lunch break._

Chapter 13

The Armored Man

Giegue awoke.

Instead of being in the dark, humid room that he was tortured in, he was in a strangely nice place. Nowhere near as bad as that room.

A soft breeze blew. He stood up, and rubbed his eyes.

He was in a patch of tulips. They ran on forever in all directions, with no visible bumps or jagged edges bursting out of the immediate vicinity.

He looked left. Then right. Yup, nothing.

Turning around, he believed he small a small rock way off in the distance. Being the only thing around that did not fit, he decided to go pay it a visit.

After about fifteen minutes of walking, he finds the rock. Frustrated after finding out that there was nothing special about this particular rock, he decided to sit on it. Maybe then it would think twice about getting peoples hopes up.

A slight breeze came from nowhere, creating waves in the tulips. A single cloud hung in the sky, feeling very out of place.

At that very moment, the sky was engulfed with thunderclouds. Rain poured in sheets, drenching Giegue, as well as the tulips.

A thunderbolt struck the ground about eighty yards from Giegue was standing. He jumped to his feet as something emerged from the smoldering crater it caused.

Although it was dark and the rain was no help to his eyesight, Giegue found a sillouhette of a large, cloaked being. The rain almost seemed to be dodging the figure.

As it walked towards him, the figure parted both the flowers and the rain with each mighty step forward. As Giegue tried to back away, he noticed his feet were stuck. He yelped out in confused fear as his feet melted into the ground, into the wet patch of dirt next to the rock.

The closer the being got, the more Giegue slowly sunk into the dirt. The more he pulled, the easier it was for him to lose focus.

Finally, after a very grueling few moments of confusion and fright, the massive being stood in front of Giegue as he continued to seep into the dirt. He looked up at the towering monstrosity, and under the hood, he saw a glimmer of gold.

The being lowered his hood. There, Giegue could see a head that was heavily armored with a helmet that shone like the stars. Two horns were protruding from the top, the golden helmet somehow fitting them perfectly. An intricate and very complex design of intertwined lines and shapes littered the helmet, all of them going down, into the robe, were Giegue couldn't see.

Giegue let out a yell, but the beast put it's hand to his mouth – he was actually met with a large golden gauntlet, also with the same patterns. As it pulled away it's hand, it took with it Giegue's mouth.

He was unable to speak, and to breathe. He some managed to hang on.

Giegue was already down to his waist by now.

The figure removed his robe in one impressive movement, casting it aside for the tulips to worry about. Under the robe was a massive golden suit of armor, intricately detailed, and so massive that it seemed that it would only be able to fit a giant. On the left breastplate was a unique insignia, consisting of a large triangle, followed by two small rectangles under the right side, and one rectangle on the left. As it saw Giegue peer at it, it hastily put it's left hand over it.

Giegue had a strange sense of déja vu. He looked under the helmet of the beast, making out features of it's face through the torrential rains.

Oh, the face.

The cold, pale, lifeless face.

Giegue continued to be sucked into the ground, but he didn't care. He flinched as another lightning bolt struck the ground (fortunately, nothing came out this time). He looked back up, into his own scarred face.

He looked back at himself, slowly melting.

A single tear ran down his face, rolling off the helmet and into the ground. He brought his hand up and pointed at himself as he looked back up.

"You!" He shouted at himself.

"You did this! You brought this curse to me! To you! To the universe! You let your emotions get in the way of right and wrong, and now the entire universe is on the edge of destruction! You are the one who has been given the power to control the gears of fate, and you've used your incompetence and your lack of discipline as the stick to jam them!"

He paused. He made a fist with his hand, and then pointed at Giegue once more.

"You were a small, innocent child, that should have stayed on Gaerin, and taken over for your fallen mother! She didn't kill herself to save you so you would bring down her planet in a ball of flame, she wanted you to lead your people to victory and establish a place in history!"

All of a sudden, whatever had caused the rain to part around the golden man had stopped working, and each time a drop him it, he began to disappear.

"Genuine was not meant for such a fate! He shaped you into what you are, and you used that _right_ for the most horrible deeds ever! You could've left it at the man's death, but you took it one step further, and took over his throne!"

Only a moment had passed, but the rain had taken out his right shoulder, and was eating away at his arm that laid on the ground. The left shoulder was hanging on for dear life, as the helmet began to disinegrate.

"Genuine is your friend. He is your only friend. Without that kind of friendship you two have, then your fate is inevitable. So I beg of you! Please don't send him to his deathbed!"

He reached his hand down to Giegue, only to have it finally fall off his shoulder and fall, squelching into the mud. Giegue was at his shoulders, with rain and mud slowly crawling higher. The Armored Man no had no arms, and he lowered himself to his knees, trying with all his might to stay upright without the aid of his arms.

"Please... Do it for Maria. Do it for her memory. Do it for your people, your kingdom back on Gaerin. And for the very least, do it for yourself. You don't deserve this curse, you deserve to be moving with the gears of fate, not against. Even beyond what you see now is only torture and pain, to people you don't even know, to people who are only trying to clean up the mess that you had created."

His legs had been eaten away by the rain, and he was balancing on two stubs. Once he stopped moving his mouth, his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he just held his head over Giegue's, limp.

The only sound was the rain hitting harder and harder, rising the mud and the ground, and Giegue being sucked through it. He was down to his chin. The Armored Man's face began to warp and hang down in points. Then, it dripped off, over Giegue's face. It felt warm, although there was no life in it's face. It hardened on his face, creating a layer of his skin that acted much like wax.

And all was left was for Giegue to be sucked down into the mud, with the dead Man's face melting and suffocating him, his face now warped and demented from the skin hardening over his own face.

And then, the last of the armor was gone, and all that was left was his large, velvet cape to be covered by mud.

Giegue had stopped moving altogether. All that was left was his entire face just barely sticking out of the ground. The Man's face had changed the features on his own face.

The rain stopped. The clouds began to part. There was no evidence of a thunderstorm.

Just the face of ultimate guilt and suffering remained embedded into the ground.

The sword cut through the StarMan's arm with no hesitation, an E note resounding loudly as it clunked hard against the ground.

"B-but, sir, it's not my fault – if we manage to get the extra dozen star fleet ships off the Catalyst, we can -"

"No, you listen! We need to make this trip, with all the ships still inside our docking bays! It's vital to our mission!"

The StarMan had barely flinched after losing his arm. In his mind, all it did was slightly hinder his working capabilities.

"But why is that? If we just get the pilots to get their ships out, they can just get back by their own ships. It'd be faster for them, and, well, sorta kinda save our lives."

"You're a _robot!_ You have no damn life! You built and made to function for one purpose only – to make the engines stay normal!"

The StarMan pondered this reply. This way of thinking made him feel very small and insignificant, and he'd probably feel some more feelings if he had actual emotions.

"Well, there's always the chance of using the hyperdrive to get back... But I'm not sure how safe that would be. Y'know, for our new contestants."

"...Well, I guess that would work. Alright! Send the message and the coordinates! This will put me ahead of schedule."

The StarMan bowed, and limped back out of the throne room, back to his dirty, tedious job back at the engine bay.

"Aaaagh, damnit. I really wish he didn't bring that up. I was hoping to chop him to bits."

A lot of points brought up in this chapter. What is this woman who has lost something? And where is she living? Obviously nowhere near where Genuine and Giegue are, it's much... Much too nice.

But, of course, she could be a lot closer than they think.

Why is the King being so rude and vile to Genuine and Giegue? What did they do? Protect themselves? He had better have a damn good reason for grabbing them like that! At least they managed to bring Giegue back from the dead.

And... Giegue's dream. What was that all about? It looked like the King, but it couldn't have been! He looked just like a Gaerin! Could it have been...!

And what's that that the King and the StarMan were talking about? Contestants? What kind of sick game does the King have in store? Nothing good, that's for sure.

Suspense – Action – Treachery – Love – Questions – Answers

All these and more will be found in Season Two of The Chronicles of Giegue. Expect more of everything, and then more!

See you again in a few months!

Naeroon


End file.
